our naughty little boy...

Major. Update.

first of all, No More Work!! I officially started my pregnancy leave (4 weeks before my due date) on January 11th. It has been so nice to be home, get things ready for Fletcher and of course take a nap and go to the beach everyday. My favorite thing though is that I have been able to eat lunch with Brandon at school almost everyday. It's nice to spend a little bit more time with him, especially since this semester is so busy.

We got to play softball with the branch a couple of saturdays ago and it was so much fun. they even let me pitch and bat. It was pretty exciting. I got hit in the leg with the softball, one of the Elders nearly missed one to the head, the senior missionary have two diving catches, and Brandon and I both got scouted to be on one of the league teams. All in all we had a great time. 

We also have been making some time for the beach and using the super awesome beach umbrella I got Brandon for Christmas. Yes I am the best wife ever.

Okay, now the news you have all been waiting for... 

baby Fletcher

Well i finally made it 37 weeks on January 18th.

We celebrated by having a mexican night with a bunch of our friends. we had flautas, homemade pico de gallo, fajitas, arroz moro, bean dip and chips, ice cream cake, pintrest smore cookies, fruit salad, and I don't even remember what else.... it was delicious. sorry, side tracked. ANYway the following tuesday I had an appointment with my midwife and after pushing on my belly a couple of times she told me that my baby was breech and that i was going to have to get a c section. I was in shock, because exactly one week before on my appointment she told me that he was head down and told me for the last 7 weeks that he was head down. I didn't feel any major movements from baby fletch, so I think that he has been breech this whole time and maybe his bum and head just feel a lot alike from the outside?? I dunno, I wish that I could have found out earlier so i could do more to try to help him flip before he got so huge, but what's done is done and for whatever reason the best way for him to come into this world is not the normal, regular way. So after my midwife told me the news she said that I had to get an ultrasound to confirm and then I need to schedule my c section. So I had an ultrasound the next day and it was confirmed. His little noggin is firmly placed under my ribs and he has no plans of moving. he gave have slim to none chances that he would turn on his own already being 37 and a half weeks pregnant. After the ultrasound the doctor gave me two options: c section or spontaneous breech delivery. yikes. those are my choices? ouch. he said that if we chose c section it would either be the following wednesday (jan 30) or the one after that (feb 6). He said he would give us a few days to think about it, so we did and we prayed about it too and we decided that a c section was our best option. we also decided that january 30th would be the day because my mom is flying in on jan 29th and we wanted to maximize the time she was here. we also wanted to reduce our chances of me going into labor and having to have an emergency c section and we thought that feb 6th was too close to my actual due date. so we went back and told the doctor our decision and after another ultrasound confirming fletch still hadn't moved we officially scheduled the c section for Jan 30. yay! 

we are actually both really excited and only a little bit nervous for me to have major abdominal surgery in a foreign country. thank goodness I have insurance!!

we also really like the doctor and feel really comfortable with him. He is just here on Bonaire for 6 months and is leaving the week after Fletcher's arrival, so we are having him just in time. 

My last Sunday being pregnant with Baby Fletcher!

Oh yeah, we also got a TON of Christmas cards from our friends and family! they all came on the same day... gotta love the mail here. 

everybody loves Fletcher

Fletcher got three super awesome presents this week from three super awesome people. 

The first was from our good friend Abbey. She gave Fletch the book Love You Forever. One of mine and Brandon's favorites. Seriously cannot wait to read it to him. Auntie Abbey is the best.

Fletcher also got tons of super cute nike onesies from our friend Amy. They are adorable and fitting for the lifestyle Brandon wants for him. This one was my favorite.

The last present that Fletcher got this week was a homemade super special blanket from Grammie, or I guess Great Grammie to him. It took over a month to get here and accidentally got sent to the wrong address, but we have it and we love it. It is so soft and cuddly--I want it for myself.

In other news---

I finished my last week of work!!! 12. weeks. off. begins. now. BOOM! 

Also, Brandon started classes up again. He has 6 classes this semester (biochemistry, physiology, genetics, neuroanatomy, clinical, and research...whoa) compared to the 4 he had last semester, so he will be VERY busy. They say that the second semester here is the hardest, but I have a feeling that he is going to rock it--even though he is going to become and new dad right in the middle of it. He is super dad after all.

   

Getting ready for Fletcher

With Fletcher's estimated arrival date getting closer and closer, Brandon and I have both been nesting...well Brandon has been nesting while I have been at work. (only one more week of work left!)

First thing we did was sell our little car. When we bought it we had Fletcher in mind, but we came to realize that us, Fletch+car seat, and a stroller could not all fit into the car at the same time. Bummer, because when we bought it, us being naive parents, thought that it would. So we sold our cute little Suzuki and got a four door Mazda truck that has plenty of room for us, Fletch+car seat, stroller, AND anyone that is coming to visit. 

We sold our suzuki for cash money and some very delicious european chocolate. true story.

Brandon has had a very productive break from school and has been building, painting, buying, and organizing things for Fletchers "room." After a lot of measuring, he came up with a plan and now our room is separated into a room for us and a room for Fletch. 

We have a limited amount of space so his goal was to maximize what we had. He did an amazing job.

First, he put up a rod and hung a curtain to separate the two rooms.

Then he built a changing table that hooks on to the crib and some shelves out of cinder blocks and wood from the construction going on at our house. Basically he built a nursery for $10. Super Dad.

He even picked out the paint himself-he chose the color because the name of it was North Shore, but it also just happened to match a changing pad that someone from work made and gave to me. Super awesome. 

This is a picture of a blanket that one of our friends who is also in Brandon's class made for us. Love it.

We are excited for baby Fletcher to get here! 

Happy New Year!!

We had a great New Years--but very different than any we have ever had together. we were in bed and asleep before 11pm. Brandon had bad allergies all day and wasn't feeling very well and I never say no to going to sleep early :)

We did celebrate all day though--Dutch style and Latino style.

For our Dutch New Years Eve celebration we went to the Branch President's house. His wife is from Holland and her parents flew in that day. The Dutch tradition on New Years is to make and eat Ollie Bollen. They're like deep fried dough balls with raisins and apple pieces in them. You put powdered sugar on them afterward. I think Brandon ate 12. They are delicious! (even with the raisins)

After we ate our fill and then some of Ollie Bollen we then went to a Latino family's house that is in our branch and ate a super delicious dinner outside and let off some fireworks. It was super fun to spend time with them chatting and laughing and enjoying the last little bit of 2012!

This New Years marked the fourth anniversary of meeting ALL of Brandon's family-Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, and Cousins included. I love them all and I miss them so much!

We are excited for 2013 and what it is going to bring!


Also--Randomly the Sunday before New Years some visitors came to church (they were from the cruise ship that stopped in Bonaire and were only here for one day) who just happened to be the parents of some friends in our old ward at BYU-Hawaii. Small world? yes.

Christmas time!

Here is the fishing picture I promised.

We had a very fun and interesting Christmas. It was the first one where it was just the two of us.

I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so that cut our celebrations a little short

On Christmas Eve we had a delicious dinner that we made together,

then sat by the tree and read the nativity story and then kept with the Bingham tradition and had our own little testimony meeting and read all the emails of their spiritual experiences for the year from family. It was so nice to focus on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.

The next morning we woke up early and opened presents!!

After presents Brandon and I decided to have breakfast at my work out on the ocean.

delicious and gorgeous.

Where I work has wifi and it was a very slow day, so I was still able to Skype my younger brother who is on a mission in Portugal and everyone else in my family. I love Skype!!

Later that night after work and Skyping we had dinner with the Elders and the Senior Missionaries. We also played dominos, worked on a puzzle and enjoyed each others company.