Month 7, almost 8...WOW that came fast! And a few updates about school and work.

Well we are almost 12 weeks past since the last update and have gotten use to the 3rd trimester. We are 30  weeks, 5 days and growing, which I guess is a good thing because that means he's growing! He is gaining a half a pound a week at this point and mom has felt a little pressure in her ribs, but overall movements have remained around my belly button. Many times my whole belly moves, the first time John saw that was pretty funny. He was amazed and laughing. Baby Klein has gone as far to wake his dad up in the middle of the night by kicking him in the back or pushing his hand off of my belly lol. He definitely recognizes John because he starts movin a bunch when he reads to him and when John puts his hand on my belly. I tell John that's Baby Klein saying hi :)

We've had a very easy pregnancy, especially throughout most of the second trimester. I've been lucky enough to avoid most symptoms...knock on wood. I just tapped the wood in the picture :) The last few weeks I have been experiencing a little bit of indigestion and heartburn, but not bad and not every day which is really nice. I've had a few weird things come up, but nothing too scary and they went away quickly. They are probably not scary at all to most people, just a little nerve wrecking for me. We are having checkups every two weeks now, which is fun to me because I get to hear him, see him move a bunch and know that everyone is healthy! At my most recent 29 week check up, My midwife told me that his heart rate and mine were great and I've gained just the right amount of weight. I'm measuring right where she expects me to and my blood pressure is great. I have been walking the dogs almost daily, stretching and/or doing yoga regularly, and going to water aerobics or swimming laps 3-4 times a week. I can still swim a mile continuously which not only makes me feel mentally and emotionally great, but feels great physically too :)

Now that we're getting so close we've really been trying to make room for baby Klein. We've been so occupied with getting out of the storage unit and moving things out from the condo, that we haven't spent a lot of time putting baby stuff up yet. We are being a bit more creative than the average bear, because of our small space. John's current project is to build a changing table that will go on top of the crib. Today we got some fun fabric for it. Any guesses on what it is? John has been so encouraging and cute throughout our whole pregnancy. He has been very helpful in keeping the house cleaner and even folding my clothes for me just to be nice. He's surprised us with a few books and constantly says I love you to the baby and rubs my belly. The other night I was trying to take a bath, but had run out of hot water from washing the dishes and John came up with this bright idea to boil some water just warm enough and let me take one. I'm such a lucky lady.

Between reading for Baby Klein and reading for school, I have been very busy reading and writing. I've learned a lot from my early childhood classes, but I must say that I have struggled to keep up the motivation and been slitely irritated with my courses. They are not as organized or interesting as my previous classes, but they're ok. Not to mention we did not have any break from classes over Thanksgiving. After next week I'll be done with one of my classes and after the following I'll be done with both. Once I'm done I'll have enough credits to teach early childhood special education in Alaska, so that's nice. I didn't get a Thanksgiving break, but I will be done sooner and have a couple of weeks to work on Christmas cards and enjoy the season without course work.

Work has been good, I enjoy the people I work with and the students are great. Everyone has been very supportive and helpful as I have gotten bigger and some of the students are pretty intrigued by my growing belly as well. We recently finished a 5 week movement challenge and our team won 3 maybe 4 of the weeks. I won two gift cards, a really nice water bottle, and something else I think, but I can't remember :)

It's been a while since our cruise in September, but that'll be a big enough post on its own. I'll post about that later. We had a great Thanksgiving with John's boss over the weekend where we were graciously served some delicious food. We did a fun run/walk with the dogs in the morning that helped out a local lady with cancer. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was sunny and beautiful. John made his first attempt at a pecan pie and it turned out great. He even made the pie crust from scratch. Yesterday we worked all day at the shop for black Friday and today we finally went to see Mocking Jay part II, the finale of the Hunger Games trilogy. It was an excellent movie and I loved it, but I'm sad that it's over. We have the first two movies, we'll have to get the final two as well so I can re-watch them over and over again :) I may just have to re-read the books too.

Besides these updates, everything else has been about the same from last time. Since daylight savings it's been getting dark soon after I get off work at 3 and we've had some snow. Em's hoping to make it up snowshoeing before Christmas, because it'll probably be too late by then. Let it snow! The dogs have adjusted to the season better than we have (as long as they get outside to play) and they as well as TJ have continued to love on mama's belly. John and I have enjoyed many nights of catching up on Dr. House recently. We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying your fall/winter season.

Love the Klein's!

19 weeks and feeling great!

Well I thought since our update last time included just a little bit on our pregnancy, and we've have some questions/request, I'd give another update. Today marks 19 weeks. That's almost through the fifth month :O holy smokes that's more than half way! I'm feeling great! I'm starting to notice that exercise is becoming a little more difficult aerobically, and my belly is getting bigger but other than that I'm feeling normal. In-fact things are feeling more normal than they did in the first semester, but we'll get to that in a few.

19 weeks today looking plump, as John says. 

So how did we figure we might be pregnant if we didn't think we could have kids. Well it took longer than some if you're really paying attention, but not too long. Basically my stomach had been bothering me for over a week but it was right after I walked for my master's and at the end of the school year. Life was stressful with teaching and jobs were very uncertain. My teaching position had been cut and I didn't see a lot of hope at the time in regards of teaching for the next year. I was also slightly bored from being done with school and drinking a lot of soda and eating a lot of sugar. So between stress and tons of junk food, I thought my stomach was pissed at me and misbehaving to get back. There was even one time that I remember specifically where we took a friend out to dinner for watching the dogs and thinking that the food simply didn't sit well and that I ate too much, because I felt SO Full and really not that great. A few times we even made jokes about having a baby because my stomach had been acting up. It never felt like a flu though and I never got sick. I decided to lay off the junk for a few days and try to have more fun to see if that would help, but honestly it didn't. We continued to make minor jokes and I started to take a few precautions like avoiding raw fish and soda completely just in case, but never really thought to test. After 8 years of nothing and being told pregnancy wasn't possible, we had stopped paying attention to mother nature and literally written the idea off. Then finally one night john's coworker had given us some treats that he wanted us to try and I wanted to try it without worrying. I hesitated, but while John was on the phone, just left and went to the store. I came back with a test thinking that I could just clear my mind about it all and move on with normal life. SURPRISE the test was positive and both of us, jaws open, flopped down in the bathroom going "holy shit" and in shock. I had just ran a six mile trail run an hour or so prior and thinking about the last few weeks. By this time school had ended and summer had begun. I had started working the docks and it was rainy and cold. I had been drinking 1-2 large coffees a day and not paying attention to what I ate at all. We couldn't believe it! We immediately started going through the fridge and medicine cabinet saying "no more of this" "more of this" "start taking this". The next day at work, after I had already left, John was so cute and surprised me with a large cup of homemade hot chocolate at the dock since I couldn't have coffee. Although we were pretty shocked we immediately started taking action to give our baby the best chance and help me have a good pregnancy.

The first trimester
Throughout the first trimester I was very tired! I stopped drinking caffeine completely and quickly started realizing how many things had egg yolks, more sugar, and other foods to avoid in them. At first I tried to push through the fatigue, but after doing a little research I started giving in and take almost daily naps. I was very tired and couldn't doing anything about it, and everything says you should rest when tired, so naps became necessary. Other than fatigue, a heightened sense of smell and having a slightly upset stomach at times, I really didn't have too many symptoms. I have learned that pregnancy brain is NOT a myth and that sometimes the thought or task that should come to the brain simply doesn't and when you look like an airhead enough times you blame it on the pregnancy brain. I haven't gotten sick once, knock on wood, and the weird food cravings and crazy hormones have been nonexistent. Let's hope that continues :)

I ran a few more times, but never felt great doing so. I experienced heartburn for the first time in my life and pretty short winded. So I decided to stick to hikes and walks. I've continued to do yoga regularly just stuck to prenatal yoga to keep things safe and prepare for the baby. After a few weeks I took up swimming again and haven't looked back since. I feel great swimming and continue to do laps and water aerobics two to four days a week. A friend told me about a class that she attends and I LOVE it. The teacher is great and it's not your grandma's water aerobics class. Everyone in the class is young, the teacher is young (not to mention a few months postpartum) and she makes us work! It's awesome! I love that I can still be active and healthy for myself and our little one.

I discovered an awesome book while mom and dad were in town called "Yoga Mama Yoga Baby". I've enjoyed it for the breathing and stretching exercises to keep my healthy and feeling great. It also has some good recipes and what to expect during each month and trimester. I look forward to reading and referring back to it. Pinterest has become more fun and helpful than it even was before and I've added "Fit Pregnancy" and "Yoga Journal" to my list of regular reads.

Like we stated above, we're well into the second trimester, but that'll have to wait till later. We're having a great journey and glad you could be here to share it with us. Here's what we have of my first trimester belly...

8 weeks

13 weeks

9 weeks

BIG Update!

Wow it's been too long since I've updated this. I promise this will be a good one and worth your read! Summer is about over, the days are quickly getting shorter, and the academic year has begun. A lot has changed, in a good way, since some of you last heard from us. John no longer works for the mine. We decided that it wasn't the best place for him to be and an opportunity to work for the gun shop full time pretty much put a kaboosh on the cost analyst job. So he's been working as the business manager for the shop all summer and continues to love it! The tourist season has kept him and the other guys quite busy, working 6-7 days a week, and brightening lots of customers days with new firearms, bows, and machine gun time. John does all of the bookkeeping for the business so he's able to use his great skills and enjoy the accounting side of things. He's learning a lot about smaller businesses and we have both gained a greater appreciation for small local business.

Em helped out a little over the summer by selling tours on the docks in-between summer school. She taught P.E. for a summer program through the school district. Between that, the docks, the pool, and hiking she stayed busy enough, but not too busy. She spends a lot of time hanging out at the shop to visit John and the others and just to hang out. John got her into archery this summer so that she could learn to shoot bow and take advantage of the great range here in Juneau. Not to mention she's not shooting rifle or pistol right now. She's still has a lot to learn, but has enjoyed it more than she thought she would.

July 4th, John's dad came to visit and we got to take him all over Juneau. We went on some beautiful hikes, fishing, and sight seeing. August was an even busier month for the two of us. Summer school ended, however we had visitors from the beginning to just last week. We had an excellent time and loved having Em's parents and our friend Todd from Nevada in town. We got to take them to Tracy Arms and see whales, bears and huge glaciers caving. We also took them hiking all over and even saw some black bears up close while they fished for salmon. We did a lot of fishing with Todd; he and John caught a few great salmon that we are excited to get back soon. Hal still wins with his first catch though; he caught a starfish right off the bat lol, but don't worry he threw it back :)

Two redneck boys livin in a man's world, so they think ;)

At the top of Mount Juneau soaking it all in, and resting :)

What an adventure! Over 3,500 feet elevation climb from sea level.

Rainbow over Herbert Glacier!

So now it's September, the school year has begun and normal life (as we know it) proceeds. Em is working as a paraprofessional at a middle school in a Developmental Education Classroom. She's bummed to not be teaching, but excited to be working with the students she is. She gets to go to the pool and help with adaptive PE every day for at least one of the students and at times two or three of them during the school day. It turns out this year is a good year for her to be less busy and have less stress. She is taking two early childhood classes online to expand her credentials, but she still won't be nearly as busy as she is used to being.

But for the biggest update and change this year, and why less stress is good as well as why she got into archery, we have an announcement for everyone! Some of you already know, but many of you don't. John and I recently found out that we are going to have a baby! No we're not adopting another dog or cat, we are actually pregnant with a two legged human child. Can't believe it? Neither did we. After 8 years of understanding that we couldn't have kids and writing the idea off, we were surprised to find out that we were pregnant. Em was so shocked that she took another test 3 days later and another (from another company) a few days after that just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. We went to the doctor to find out we were 7 weeks pregnant with our little peanut and skyped our parents a few days later. Both of whom are SO excited and dying to know what it is. We are now a healthy 18 weeks pregnant (as of yesterday) and both doing great. Keep your eyes out for more specific updates, but for now we wanted to let all of our friends know that we are actually going to have a baby! John is going to have a little hunter by his side and Em can't wait to have her yogi and swimming partner ;) We have gotten over much of the shock and begun the practical planning side of things, however we still often shake our heads and go "I can't believe we're actually talking about this" or "wow this is actually happening". So now well into the second trimester the excitement grows and the adjustments begin. We talk to the puppies and TJ all of the time about having a baby and let them get close. We are starting to rearrange the house and bring in a few babyish items to begin the transition period for all five of us. You'll have to stay tuned for more updates :) For now we are happy to finally share the news with everyone and look forward to sharing more updates with you!

The first test 

 9 weeks, celebrating with a hike to the glacier :)

 Our little seven week peanut!

 15 weeks at the top of Mount Juneau. That was a heck of a hike and we had to keep taking breaks to make sure my heart rate didn't get too high. Totally worth it thought!

Our little family of four and a half :) in front of Herbert Glacier at 14 weeks. 10 mile walk round trip!

Happy Human Parents to be!

Turns out I was probably pregnant when I walked for my master's :D

18 weeks and SHOWING in my new rocking chair from daddy John and Mr. Moose from Grandma Janey ;) 

Mountain goats

Masters Complete!

Today I officially turned in my final two assignments of my masters program and in TEN days I will walk with my wonderful family and professors watching! I also had my final class as a TA tonight. It's hard to believe that only two years ago, I started this journey and had very little understanding about helping kids with disabilities. I've been very tired lately with everything settling down and my body has been quite achy due to my body adjusting to the lack of stress, funny how the body starts to hurt when it's getting better. No I have not been this way for two years, just more stressed than usual since starting a new job, student teaching and living in a new place. After class I was ready for a nap, but instead a friend invited me for a hike and anyone who knows me well knows that I will never turn one of those down. So my friend Jada and I started out on west glacier trail, which is the trail opposite of the visitors center at Mendenhall glacier. We were having too much fun and with such long days this time of year plus little to do for work, we decided to go for it and hike as far in as we could. Roughly six miles and three hours later we ended with some incredible pictures (that don't do the views justice), a spying session on mountain goats, and a great workout! As I drove home I thought to myself, what a better way to complete this step in my journey. I can't explain how amazing this journey has been or much I've blessed by it, but I can say that I will never regret my decision to do any of it or come to Alaska with my amazing family. Thanks Jada for getting me out on a beautiful day so that I could celebrate properly :) T minus 7 days before I see my friends and family!

Scouting like a good boy.

Mountain goats!

Happy kids and mama!

Juneau!

Above the glacier and ice fields!

And Done!

Whoa May is here!

May 1st! Really?! How did that happen? What happen to March? Even when things aren't going perfectly, time seems to fly by. Does that mean we're officially old ;) A lot has happened since spring break and there's still a lot coming in the next few weeks. Tourist season officially starts this weekend with the first cruise ship coming in. Can you believe that?! Isn't it still winter? Who's taking a cruise? Haha. With tourist season starting, the shop that John's working at is getting very busy and pumped for their first tour season. It should be a VERY busy summer for them! We've enjoyed getting to know the folks at the shop and their families; everyone is really fun and chill to hang out with. John has been working just about every weekend there and says it feels more like playing. John recently had his 32nd birthday at the shop after hours, but did not know that it was going on so when his friends came in he started selling range time lol. Em and some friends went downstairs and had their first shot at a fully automatic machine gun. It was actually really easy to shoot and a whole lotta fun! Afterwards, Em threw a shirt at John and said "Happy Birthday", we all kind of laughed and then proceeded to the room where the food and presents were. We ate some deliciously catered food from a local place and hung out for a bit. John was spoiled with some Tommy Bahama and more guns...squirt guns.

The next day after the shop closed up, the NRA had a big dinner(just what the birthday boy wanted) and we got to go to that. It was pretty fun and there were some really cool things that were auctioned and raffled off. The best part was the company and food. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day with the warmest temps yet and clear skies. So before the dinner, while John was at the shop, Em spent the day outside with a short run at Eagle beach, a drive out the road, and a beautiful hike with a friend up Mt. Roberts for the first time. The views were incredible and it was about 10 minutes from home :) Em tried to take John there Monday night, but couldn't find it up the skinny windy roads so we did our newest trail, the Treadwell ditch trail behind our place. It's great hike and run that takes us straight up and then smooths out to flatter steady incline with water and vegetation everywhere! Next time, Em said she'd look at the map before we go because gps isn't good around here :). With some challenges, she was able to find Mt. Roberts and Perseverance trail earlier this week and enjoyed a lovely hike and run with their beautiful views :)

At the beginning of the month Em got to go to San Diego to return to the annual CEC conference. As always, it was an amazing conference where she learned a ton. She attended sessions on a variety of topics including helping children avoid prison, cool reading materials, some great math and reading apps, and two specifically for new teachers. She's already been able to use some of what she took away from the conference in the classroom and she's super excited to continue using all of them next year. While at the conference, Em had the privilege to present her poster again, but even more exciting was that she had her published article with her. So she got to share all the cool things that she and her professor Alex wrote about and discuss ideas with multiple people who came including swim instructors, adaptive PE teachers, and special educators. The weather was really warm while she was there. Em chuckled when she was sweating at 65 degrees and others were shivering. She went for a run and remembered how much she did not enjoy the heat while running, but loved being able to run to the San Diego Zoo where she has her first memory as a child. She hopes to be able to return to conferences for ever :)

A few weeks prior to CEC, Em defended and passed her Master's defense however she was not happy with her performance at all. She had started the first rounds of testing at school that week and didn't feel good all week in general. After her defense, she felt terrible and cried for a while. Even the pups couldn't console her because she was so disappointed in herself. She was happy to have learned she passed, but not happy otherwise. Overtime she moved on and tried to let it go, but she is still not happy with how it went. She is happy however to be passed that step and to have had a better presentation in San Diego.

Em graduates in 16 days! Seriously where has the time gone? Didn't she just graduate with her B.A.? Didn't John and her just move to the Palouse? Now two years later we're here in Juneau, in our own home, Em's teaching career is starting to peak through and John is a business manager! After 5 weeks of testing with students, her defense behind her, the college courses complete, and the school year wrapping up, Em feels like things are a bit quite right now. However she's not complaining :) She knows next year will be quite different. Just as things are settling down for Em, they're picking up for John. He will be helping out at the dock selling tours for the shop, working the gun counter and still responsible for the business side of things. He'll stay very busy, but is very happy to be a part of the team. Em is going to help out as well when she is not teaching at the summer program. It should be a great summer with lots of adventures ahead!

We are excited to come see our friends and family and enjoy the 70's and 80's that Pullman is experiencing. Only two weeks away! We hope you're all enjoying your spring weather and finding time to be with your friends and family as well. See you soon friends!

 Looking down from Mt. Roberts.

 The tram at the top of Mt. Roberts.

 Mili looked like a puppy in this eagle's nest.

 One of the views from Eagle Beach!

 Treadwill trail, 3 miles in.

 Ammo tried to chase the guy with the chute. Silly pup.

 Em got a new toy for hunting and brought the muzzle a little too far back. She didn't shoot John's bag, but the power off the muzzle didn't care. Whoops! The gun shoots great :)

 Only in Alaska.

 We got to go to an MMA fight with some friends and see a guy from Texas get beat by a local :)

 The view from dinner one weekend!