My heart is under the sea.

Mark left yesterday for a short underway for a few months. He'll be back soon and one day is already down, so it's one more day until I see him again. In the meantime, I'm going to work on some special projects for him, just do some things to keep me busy and make time pass.

Before he left, we celebrated my 21st birthday on January 19th instead of February 19 since he won't be here. We also did an early Valentine's day. For my birthday, Mark drove an hour and a half or more to get to Warwick, RI to take me to Carrabba's, which is my favorite Italian restaurant. We had one in Charleston, but RI is the closest one here. Anyway, so we went and spent the hour waiting and then had fabulous lobster ravioli, pasta weesie and tiramasu. It was sooo good, really worth the drive!

We've been married for two years and we keep trying to get pictures taken and something always happens where we can't. This past Saturday was picture taking day :). We went to Avery Point Lighthouse in Groton and had some photos taken by a professional photographer. She will also be our birth photographer if Mark can't be here when the baby comes, as he's scheduled to be out and the boat is shorthanded, but we'll see. Here are some pictures from our shoot:

There will be more to come, but here's what the photographer sent over. I edited them and I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. They're our first family pictures and I'm so pleased!

Getting closer....

I can't believe it...I'm almost 6 months pregnant! Time sure is flying. Mark is leaving very soon for an underway, so he's going to miss some of the pregnancy. We're hoping he'll be able to be home when the baby is born, but we're not sure yet. Just in case, we bought and assembled the crib last night. Rather, we picked out the crib and Mark put it together, lol. We've gone back and forth over which crib we wanted and finally decided to pay the little bit extra and get the one we REALLY wanted, instead of settling on a cheaper one. I'm so glad we did, it looks great!

Winsor Convertible 4-in-1 crib in Pine

We forgot to buy the mattress so we have to go get it. I'm also going to be purchasing the crib set online since it's not available in-store. Everything is coming together and I'm so pleased! The last things we have to buy are bottles, the baby bathtub, diaper genie, boppy, and a few larger items like the swing and bouncer. We're making sure everything is getting taken care of and I am really pleased.

I just wanted to add that if Mark isn't home when the baby comes, we've hired a birth photographer and doula to attend. I don't have family who will be coming, so I need support. The photographer will just take pictures of the baby right after she's born and then come back the next day to take newborn pics. I'm very excited to have these. If Mark can't be there I want to keep him as involved as possible. We're also having pictures taken Jan. 19th at a lighthouse at sunset. I'm very excited for this, also.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. I have the instructions for my glucose test now, and have to do that before my next appointment on February 8th. Mark won't be here so I'll be going to that one alone. At my last appointment, my due date was changed to May 9th because the baby's limbs aren't measuring appropriately...so, she's short. That's to be expected, though. I still think she's going to be early. The doctor also okay'd me to be on calcium supplements since I don't like milk, so we bought those along with an iron supplement, since she said my iron was low. So now I'm taking Flintstone vitamins twice a day (since I can't take prenatals), folic acid once a day, calcium supplements twice a day and iron supplements twice a day. Yuck! Lots of pills.

The baby is healthy and we're doing fine. Getting everything ready for Mark to leave and stuff.