20101206

Ice Cream with Cereal

I promised my sister I would blog this week and I hate to break a promise to my sister. I have been so busy lately and somehow the further behind I got in blogging about things the more overwhelming the thought became. So, this post is going to be bullet points about the things that have transpired over the last couple months and then I am going to *try* and jump back into blogging with more regularity.
In October....
*I felt less morning sickness but lots of exhaustion*
*We carved pumpkins and watched a REALLY bad Halloween movie*
*I was the Morton Salt Girl for Halloween*
*Chris finished WTI and so he also finished working 18 hour days and 6 days a week and I was very very very happy to have my husband back!*
I only spent one weekend in November at home...instead....
*Chris and I went to Colorado for 5 days to meet our nephew Noah and see some great friends, Andrew and Courtney, get married. We also wandered Golden, met lil' Willa and saw family and were sad to leave Colorado (as we always are).*
*We spent the next weekend in San Diego where we got to enjoy an amazing ultrasound and were able to see our perfect little BOY dancing around in my belly!*
*I spent 6 days in North Carolina with 5 of my favorite women on the planet. We talked (a lot!) sang karaoke, had impromptu dance parties and generally enjoyed being together. It was so rejuvenating for me and I am so thankful for each and every one of these ladies! XoXo*
*Chris cleaned the whole house while I was in NC (yes, this deserves a bullet point!) explaining that, "I don't want my baby Mama to stress about it"*
*Chris' Mom came for Thanksgiving and we ate a ton of food, watched some awesome movies, enjoyed a ton of Chex mix , visited her Dad in San Diego and spent some time with fun family out there*
*We ordered lil' man's crib and had a fun night setting it up together*
And now it is December...how did that happen???
*I made dinner every night last week (this hasn't happened since August, poor Chris!)*
*We had a fun date to Lowe's to buy paint and chair rail for lil' man's room*
*I drove to Phoenix with two great girlfriends for a fun day of shopping and adventuring (and a little bit of getting lost)*
*Chris painted the whole nursery and put up the chair rail while I was in Phoenix so I wouldn't have to smell the fumes (did I marry Prince Charming or what!)*
And so those are the main events since I last wrote. Now I shall comment on this whole "growing a baby" thing so if that weirds you out then this is your stopping point.
Being pregnant is a constant adventure wherein I have days where all I can say to Chris is, "I feel weird!". I have a nice baby bump that is growing weekly and I am excited that we are halfway done with this pregnancy. I started feeling lil' man occasionally in mid-November and at that point he felt like a little goldfish swimming around in my belly. Now we are getting to a point where I feel him more often and there are definite kicks and rolls going on in there, it is probably the coolest/weirdest feeling ever and I can't wait until Chris can feel him from the outside.
The whole time I said we were having a boy and it turns out I was right (love that) and we are both thrilled to meet him in April.
I think the most annoying thing that people (strangers mostly) say about us having a boy is that my "husband must be relieved/happy it is a boy". Let me set the record straight. Chris is not that kind of guy, in fact he was guessing it was a girl (actually he wanted twins...crazy fool). Chris wanted a healthy baby and didn't give a rat's tooshey what gender the baby was. I think it is sad we still live in a society where people think that a man can only desire a male child, dude, it is 2010!
That being said I can't wait to see what kind of trouble my two guys are going to get into together.
Also, we have name for lil' man and we love said name. However, I do not know everyone who reads this blog and I am not comfortable sharing both my child's name and pictures of him in the same place (sorry, but there are still weirdos in the world). Call me paranoid but I don't want strangers being able to identify my child by his picture and name. So, since I plan on posting scads of pictures I am going to hold back his full name. If we are friends/family in real life then you probably already know our chosen name and I will thank you ahead of time for not posting it here. That being said lil' mans initial will be G and so if I refer to G-man, G-money or lil' G you shall know it is baby! Thanks for understanding!

20101018

Decaffeinated Coffee

I know that last time I posted (a billion years ago) I pinkie promised that I would be a better blogger and not wait so long to post again. The problem was that my posts are about what I am doing in day to day life.
For a while day to day life has consisted of sitting on the couch and feeling nauseous.
I guess growing a baby is only inwardly interesting and not so great for blog inspiration.
I will wait while you go back and re-read that last sentence.
Ok, we're back.
It is true, Chris and I are expecting a lil' baby who we lovingly call "Splinter". Splinter is now 13 weeks old and about the size of a peach (yummy). We could not be more excited to meet him/or her in April but for now I just spend most of my time wondering if I am showing yet and worrying whether or not I am doing everything right to take good care of Splinter.
It has been a wonderful time for Chris and I since this is something we have been wanting and dreaming about for a while now. It is so amazing to talk about names and nursery designs and have it be real and not a "when we finally get pregnant" conversation.
Those of you who know me really well may know I tend to worry...a lot. It is not my favorite quality, especially when I am aware of my unreasonable nature. To solve this problem I bought a doppler on Amazon, basically it is a little hand held thing that listens to baby's heartbeat. It is the most magical thing ever to listen to our lil' Splinter's heart racing away. Baby's hearts beat at twice the rate of their Mom so they sound like a horse galloping. Once a day I settle down and listen to Splinter galloping away for a few minutes and then I go about the next 24hours without worrying, best 50$ I ever spent!
I suppose I am going to be the Mom standing over the baby's crib with a mirror under their nose to make sure all is well. But guess what, I am ok with that.
So now you know, our Sweet and Sour life is leaning way more towards the Sweet right now....
But Chris has been working 100 hours a week since September so I guess maybe we are still well balanced!

20100831

Orange Juice, Soda Water, Tequila and a lime

Long ago and far away in a land we call vacation this was my drink of choice.
When Chris and I were in Jamaica things were simple.
Pool or beach?
Rum or tequila?
Nap or read a book?
Snorkel or sail?
Restaurant or room service?
Ahhhh, I miss vacation.

We have been home for almost a month now and I have been putting off blogging about it because that means it is really in the past.

Chris and I are generally pretty adventurous, we like to go places and do things all the time. However, since Chris was coming off a deployment we decided it would be best to do nothing but sit on a beach and enjoy each other's company. So it was decided that we would spend 8 days at the Sandals resort in Montego Bay Jamaica.

It was glorious! The beaches were white and soft and clean. The water was clear and blue and perfectly cool. The food was yummy and available at anytime of day or night. We started out in one amazing room with ocean view. However, after the power went out one night, we were moved to an even more amazing room with an even better ocean view.

We celebrated our second anniversary, it is wild how quickly the past two years have flown by.

We went snorkeling twice and enjoyed playing with hundreds of colorful fish. We did one excursion to Dunn's River Falls where we got to hike up a waterfall. It was a pretty neat experience except for the gigantic spiderwebs that I noticed in the trees above the waterfall....complete with giant spiders. Yick!
It was a much needed chance to relax and reconnect without any stresses of everyday life. See, I feel relaxed just writing about it. Oh Jamaica I miss you!

20100816

Homebaked Bread

Ooops, I forgot to blog. For over a month. My bad....
In my defense it has been a very busy month. Chris came home and life went back to being gloriously normal.
I baked fresh loaves of whole wheat bread. I made him yummy sandwiches of eggplant, pesto, roasted red pepper and spinach when he came home from work for lunch.
I kicked his butt at Risk. Actually, I kick Chris' butt at most games, which I am sure he would never admit. It makes him quite pouty sometimes...
Chris taught me how to change the oil in both of the Jeeps. I did really well and impressed myself. It is dirty work but I make it look cute.
We drove to Colorado...yes, I drove there AGAIN. Family was so happy to see Chris after his deployment so that was lovely.
I got to do an impromptu photo shoot with my lil' sister so she can redo her blog before leaving for Spain to teach English for a whole year. I will miss her ever so much but I am glad she is heading off to have many grand adventures!
Oh, yeah... Chris and I went to Jamaica for our two year anniversary!! I shall share a whole post of pictures from that glorious vacation on another day. For now, I am alive, I am doing well and I promise to blog more!

20100709

Like fireworks and cotton candy combined

I don't really have any words for how elated I am today so I will just share some pictures from yesterday. Enjoy! No, I am not the world's dumbest person, I edited out the last name. I dyed the fabrics and drew the logo myself! Waiting with Bekah- also known as Blessing from God, Best Friend, Keeper of the Sanity, Photographer and Generally Amazing Woman. Hooray for America. Lots of anxious families waiting for their Marines. Here they come! I found him! Neither of us have been this happy for six months. Chris and me. And now life is as it should be.
If I don't post for a while it is because I am having too much fun hanging out with my husband!

20100706

I'll just have a glass of water

You know how some days things go really well? You know how sometimes the plumber comes and fixes the dishwasher and the shower and the running toilet? You know how sometimes you ask the plumber why the kitchen faucet doesn't swivel and he says that it is corroded and needs replacing? You know how sometimes you think you know better?
Monday was one of those days when I thought I knew better. Corroded you say? I can fix that with some vinegar. I will just wrap the faucet in paper towels soaked in vinegar and let that break down the corrosion. See, look it is getting looser already! I knew it! Now I bet if I just push it a little harder then it will be.....
Oh, crap.
$98 at Lowes later you are back in your kitchen ready to learn about plumbing.
2 hours later you are still under the sink ready to murder whoever put these bolts on so tightly. And what is with rust?! Seriously, if we want information from terrorists we should put them under sinks and make them lay flat on their backs with water dripping in their faces and rust flaking into their eyes and make them loosen bolts.
Terrorism solved. You're welcome.
But you finally get those stupid terrorists. Umm, I mean bolts. And then it is time for the shiny new faucet. The instructions only have 4 steps so it can't be that hard right?
Wrong.
Did I mention that to test the shiny new faucet you have to keep crawling out from under the sink and going outside in the 115 degree heat to turn the water back on at the main source because the valves under the sink are, yup you guessed it, rusted shut?
You know when you have one of those days where you accomplish something you have never done before and you feel super proud of yourself and you take a 30 minute shower?
Monday was one of those days.

20100705

31 Flavors

Friday, Saturday and Sunday I drove from Denver to Yuma all by myself. Well, the dogs where there too, but as Chris said "Loki has no opposable thumbs and tends to drift to the left". To me this drive was a huge accomplishment. I do not like to drive long distances, I like to sleep in the passenger seat and wake up when we are there. Chris is pro at driving so when we are together he does about 80% of the driving. I drove 7 hours Friday, 5 Saturday and 5 Sunday. Yea Me!
We saw some different flavors of America.
We were sad to leave Colorado.
We were not sad when this idiot stopped tailing us and finally just passed us.
We drove under beautiful clouds and stormy clouds.
We passed "Wagon Mound Hill".
We stayed in Albuquerque.
We saw a really big shaggy dog.
Oh, wait. We saw a really big shaggy sheep!
I had a backseat driver.
We stopped for gas several times.
Loki and Koda almost blew away outside of Flagstaff.
I ate the best taco of my entire existence. No really, it was so good that after the first bite I went searching for my camera to show it to you. Yummy.
We checked out dog parks in Albuquerque and Flagstaff.
We observed some fascinating license plates.
I drove a long way without seeing another car so I took that chance for self picture taking.
We raced some trains.
We felt the heat rise and knew we were almost home.
We made it!