Christmas Activities 2009

Happy New Year! (Almost)

Christmas has been a blast this year. Here's some of what has happened:

Ginger Bread Houses!

This year my mom and brothers decided to go all out with the ginger bread houses and they built a castle! Matt and I built little houses to create the village and all together we had a very enjoyable little scene. It was pretty amazing how my mom was able to bake all those pieces. Here are some pics:

This is the 'Over All' shot. The four houses in front and the one back toward the 'gate' are the ones that Matt and I crafted.

These two above are my favorite. You can see the third last house in the background of the picture below.

The pic above highlights the castle: note the windows. My mom actually put candy in to melt into windows. Pretty cool effect! The pic below highlights some of my brother's creativity. The marshmellows on gumdrops are supposed to be cannons and the candy cane baracade is supposed 'caltrops' (or inother words, pointy logs that keep evil people out).

Chrismas Eve

Christmas Eve we finished our Advent Nativity set. Emmaline loved putting this together through December and it was fun to have such an interactive way to tell the story of Jesus' birth to Emmaline several times. Of all the Christma pictures that Matt took this week I love this one of our tree the most. Somehow the lighting of the tree and the room behind us made this picture so beautiful.

Snow!!

Somehow every Christmas its snowed I've been out of town so I've always missed the 'white Christmas' that everyone can fondly remember. This year (I was sad about moving to Guam where the chance of snow at Christmas is literally 0%) it happened to snow about 4 inches! I was happy! Well, when we weren't driving in it cause we did slide twice- once almost into a busy intersection and the second time almost into the back of another car. Luckily both times Matt was amazing and was able to gain control of the vehicle!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was a blast! Matt and I woke up around 5:30 (I guess even as an adult we can't get the excitement of the magical day to go away enough to sleep in!). When Emmaline finally woke up we were excited to show her that Santa came! She loved opening her presents and we enjoyed watching her. This year both the wrapping paper and the gifts were appealing rather than just the packaging!

Here is what Emmaline got: Chapstick (probably a mistake), baretts, stickers, play jewelry, princess shoes (they sparkle!), books, board games and a helmet and a scooter! The scooter is her favorite, of course.

(I must comment: This picture was taken on Christmas morning. See snow? Nope. I woke up and was sad there was NO snow on the ground. Within an hour of this picture there was an inch of snow. Also note her princess shoes).

Matt got: A calendar with pictures of our family to take with him to Korea, a jar full of 80+ things I love about him, letters to read while in korea (see a theme?), games for his PSP and a camera so when he is in Korea he can take pictures to share with the family!

Britta got: beautiful jewelry from Matt, a few movies from the fam, and a new set of silverware! I was very excited for the silverware because mine has been bending and rusting for a while now and a new set has been on my wants list for about a year!

Christmas Sales

After Christmas we went furniture shopping. Emmaline needs a new bed before baby comes and we decided to hit the sales. We found a bed we both like that was definately under our budget. Happy! The bonus to this bed is that the lower bunk can be stored until we need it in a few years. The dresser, shelves and desk are all built in so we have tons more room in the room- which is important with two little girls in a small space. (The bed is supposed to be delivered today but its snowing again... we'll see if it actually gets here.)

Pregnancy Pictures

And finally: I feel like a beached whale already. I'm now 22.5 weeks along and feeling baby kick all the time. Some days I just feel fat but others I can definately feel pregnant. Here is a pic of my big belly:

Here is what you've all been waiting for!

Matt and I found out we are expecting a GIRL!

We couldn't be more excited!

(This is not the actual ultrasound photo...but you can imagine our baby looks pretty much the same at this point! Except our baby was actually grabbing her toes during the entire ultrasound making any really good picture difficult.)

Gender Gender, who knows the Gender?

The ultrasound is in a week and I'm so excited to find out if we are having a boy or a girl! We have decided that because the ultrasound is so close to Christmas that we aren't going to tell anyone the gender until Christmas day. (Sorry mom!) I'd love to see what you think we are having though. Come on guys...its a 50-50 chance you'll get it right. Here's what the 'professionals' say: Chinese Lunar Calendar predicts: Girl Food Craving Prediction: I've been craving salty- boy Heart Beat Prediction: Heart beat has always been over 140- girl Wedding Ring Swing: swings in a line- boy According to www.childbirth.org I have a 60% chance of having a girl. They take all the different tests and compile the answers to give a percent chance. Matt wants a girl and is pretty sure we'll get one. I really would love to have a girl but I'm more pessimistic and feel like whatever I want I'll get the opposite so I think we'll be having a boy this time. Post your thoughts...it'll be fun to read. Then on Christmas I'll post and let you all know what we are having!

Addendum

After writing the last post about my car I got another call from the car place. My alignment was so bad that they told me if I waited even a month my tires would probably be ruined again. What a waste of 400$. So I had to get the tires realligned- another 75$. Then when I got there to pick up my car I was informed that my break fluid was low (couldn't they have thrown in a bit of break fluid for free? I was spending enough as it was!) and that the struts in the front of the car are making noise. Okay, so I've never even heard of struts. In fact, strutting is what peacocks do. Is it even an thing? My dad will be refilling my break fluid and replacing my headlight today. My car already rides better after having the alignment fixed and the tires replaced. It'll be nice to see when I'm trying to turn after the headlight is fixed!

My poor car.

I call it mine only becuase Matt is gone and hasn't even driven it for 4 months. So its mine. That means I have to be incharge of taking care of it. Oddly enough. Two months ago I asked Matt to check the tires when I was at Lackland for his graduation. His verdict was that our tires were just fine and I didn't need to worry. Well, two days ago I happened to glance down at the tire and was shocked to notice that it was nearly bald! I fumed for a little bit that Matt would have the gall to give me such poor information then I realized that in the last two months we have driven more than 3,500 miles. Definately a reason my tires would look bald now and didn't when Matt checked. Christmas is not the best time to have to replace tires but a few things fuel the necessity. For one, I'm traveling another 2,500 miles within the next three weeks. I really don't want to deal with a tire blow out while driving to Texas. Not an exciting event to deal with. Two, in order for Matt to go with me in my car an MTL has to inspect it for safety. I'm almost positive that my nearly bald tires wouldn't pass the test. Three, I have a safety inspection to do in order to get new tabs on my car in Feburary. So I'd have to get new tires by then anyway. So I'm spending 400$ to get new tires. The most frustrating thing is that our tires are an odd size. Why? I don't know. But they are. It means that I can't find them cheap (something like 50$ a tire or buy 3 get one free sounds good to me!) and they aren't at every tire place. Walmart doesn't have them in-store but does have them online. The problem is that it would take 6-8 business days to get them to the store and I only have 4 business days until I make another round trip to Texas. So no go. But Walmart employees kindly informed me that the front two tires needed replacing, the back two tires would be okay. I was relieved, half as expensive, right? I opted for a Firestone Tire- who actually had exactly 4 tires in stock. I was happy to drop my car off this afternoon and get the car dealt with days before my trip. But then I get a call. Sigh. So a little lesson here. Car tires are given a rating on a scale of 1-12. 12 means that there is full tread, 1 means its entirely bald. (I totally like this rating scale, Walmart people were trying to tell me in inches which baffled me). They reccomend that tires be replaced when they get to 4. My tires? 4,3,2 and 1. So all of them needed to be replaced (makes me wonder how much the Walmart people know if they tell me the back tires are just fine...) So I'm getting all four tires replaced. I wonder if that'll make for a smoother drive? Also, my poor car has had a headlight out for about a month now and has needed an oil change for weeks. I finally got around to the oil change today and bought a new bulb so my dad can replace it tomorrow (thanks dad!). I think my car felt neglected. I hope it didn't start lowering the gas milage to get back at me. But he should be happy now!

Emmaline's Comments

Yesterday I started chatting with one of Emmaline's nursery leaders. She said that Emmaline LOVES to go to the bathroom (they have the cutest little bathroom attached to the nursery with minature toilet and sink...). I have only sent her to nursery with panties on once but the nursery leaders continue letting her go potty if she asks. Anyway, the lesson this week was on saying 'I'm sorry'. The leader told me that Emmaline said (I'm sure in less intelligable words but essentially this) "I have to tell my mom sorry when I go potty on the floor". When she told me this I was floored! For one, I've never made Emmaline appologize for going potty on the floor. An accident is an accident and I treat it as such. Its all a learning process. But mostly I was shocked at how she connected those two thoughts! My baby is growin' up! (wipes tears away).

Christmas Decorations!

Emmaline, Matt and I spent the evening decorating. Actually, I decorated, Emmaline got into the decorations and Matt sat on the phone eating sausage, cream cheese and crackers.

The tradition in our family has always been to put the tree up over the weekend after Thanksgiving (I was out of town so it was pushed to this weekend) while eating crackers and spreads and such. We generally listen to Christmas music and maybe drink some sparkling cider or something. Since Matt was in a different state we elected to not have him go AWOL but just listen to the comotion over the phone.

Yesterday Emmaline and I made some Christmas ornaments with grandma to put on the tree today. The bottom half of the tree holds all of Emmaline's ornaments while the top half holds all of my ornaments. Thats how it works. But honestly, the tree looks pretty good!

I was only disappointed to realize how few decorations we have. Each year Matt and I have elected not to buy decorations because of a lack of space to store anything. And I totally understand why we've done that. But I was disappointed to open the one Christmas box and find that most of the stuff in it went on the tree and not on the walls or counters. I hope next year we'll be in a position to buy stuff and actually store it.

So here is the tree!

Emmaline's 'half' with the ornaments we made yesterday!

I'm hearing voices

Emmaline has picked up on something I never thought she would. Sometimes when I tell her 'I love you!' I say it in a funny voice. I don't know when this started or why but it happened. And now I catch her talking in her 'silly voice' occasionally- especially when she says 'I love you!'. I tried recording her doing it but I don't really think the camera picked up on the nuances of the voice differences. But the video is still cute anyway. Enjoy!

Belly Bubbles

I love feeling my baby kick. When I was in Texas with Matt I'd tell him every time I was feeling the baby move and he would just get the biggest grin on his face. He loves feeling involved with this baby and is very disappointed he is having to miss so much of everything. When my baby kicks it feels like bubbles popping in my tummy. I really can't wait until it gets harder and more predictable. Right now I'm totally surprised when I feel the baby and sometimes only feel the kicks once or twice a day. I really hope the baby's kicks are strong enough to feel outside my tummy before Matt leaves. I'd love for him to feel the baby kick. We get to find out the baby's gender in only 3 weeks. We really are hoping for a girl but, of course, will be totally excited no matter what we have. Either way I'll have to buy new clothes. Emmaline was born in the fall and all her first year clothes are winterized. This baby is due in late spring and her first year will need to be more summer clothing. No big worries, I love buying baby clothes!

Life as it is

Life has been somewhat chaotic lately. I've gone to visit Matt once and I'm going to visit him again next week. I'm tired enough from the pregnancy that its hard to keep up with cleaning the house and taking care of all the other stuff that needs to be done. Well, I blame it all on the pregnancy but mostly its emotions thats making me tired. Emmaline is coping rather well although we are having to deal with a bit of hitting. She isn't exactly hurting anyone when she hits but she is trying to express her emotions by hitting rather than something else. I hope this is a short phase. She is learning more and more every day and its crazy to hear some of the things she says. She picks up on my words so quickly that I really feel like I have to monitor what I'm saying more these days. Matt is enjoying school. He is finally getting to start hands-on work this week which he is really excited for. Next week he'll actually get to watch some explosives being set off. I'm sure its completely safe and all the guys'll be cheering at each blast. The ultrasound for our baby is set for December 21- and Matt gets to be home for it! We are going to find out the gender and tell family and friends on Christmas day. My mom isn't so excited about waiting a few days but I think it'll be fun to have that sort of surprise. I'll keeep everyone updated, of course. It'll be exciting to find out about the gender...we already have a pretty good idea of what names we'd like to use too. Only 5 more months!

A week later...

Its been a week exactly (even to the hour!) since Matt told me he is off to Korea for a year. My last post was a bunch of whining and being disappointed about the whole situation. Although I'm still way way disappointed about the whole situation I'm actually feeling a lot better. Its really a lot better for me to be staying here anyway, for a lot of reasons. But for the first several days my heart and mind were at severe odds. Good reasons to stay: 1 Selling our condo right now would more than likely result in us loosing $10,000+ because of the market. 2 I don't have to worry about changing doctors and finding friends to help with babysitting Emmaline and all the post-birth needs. 3. I don't need to change phone carriers, have my furniture fixed before the we go out of the warrenty area (touch ups), forward my subscriptions, cancel my memberships, worry about keeping my house clean every moment or make sure I'm packing away stuff that I need to have go with us rather than shipped. I think its going to suck big time not having Matt with me but having actually accepted the fact I'm able to push emotion aside at times and just do what needs to be done. And I know that when he comes home after the year it'll be like we just got married all over again. We'll be twitterpated and giddy just to see eachother every morning. I think I'll take a few vacations this year as well...I don't want to put life on hold just because Matt's gone. I may even take the cruise that I wanted for our 5 year anniversary with Emmaline and the baby. I dont know, that may be pushing it. We'll see.

Matt's Tour

As I posted on Matt's blog, he has been assigned to Korea on a one year, unaccompanied tour. (Side note here, my list of 'lies' told by the recruiter is getting longer and longer). Matt was chosen for this post because he was available and they needed someone to fill it. I get the impression that they did not look at his wish list at all before placing him somewhere and I wonder what role that wishlist really plays in things. We looked into trying to get orders changed so it could be an accompanied tour but he has to put in an application regarding it and the guy who told him about it said there is no chance in he.. that he'll actually have his application accepted because he is too low on the totem pole. We looked into me just moving there but the costs are really high and maybe just out of our range. We'd loose a lot of money trying to sell our condo, pay thousands for airfare and either have to send our stuff overseas (I don't even want to start guessing how much that costs) or pack all our stuff into storage and buy all new stuff when I get there. Again, that costs a lot of money. The last option we were thinking about was getting him assigned to Japan after this (he has to choose his next base within a week and then I have the choice of staying put or moving to the new base). If I chose to move to Japan I'd be across the water from him and could potentially see him more often. But... a boat ride costs almost 200$ per person to go from Japan to Korea round trip (plane rides are almost twice as much) plus the driving costs to get to the boats/bases as well as extra food and hotel costs. It again becomes nearly unreasonable to expect to be able to visit any more frequently than if we were living here. The verdict: we don't know. If I stayed here Matt would probably be able to come home after the baby is born but more than likely wouldn't be home for the birth. He would be allowed a 2 week RnR after 6 months as well. It takes 2 days to fly each way so his 14 day RnR would actually be 4 days of travel and 10 days at home. Matt said that he is pretty much not allowed to recieve phone calls for safety reasons but will be able to make phone calls occasionally. He will be allowed to use the Web cam on a regular basis though. Unfortunately, Korea is something like 12 hours ahead of us (or more?) and fitting our schedules together so we can actually talk when Matt isn't working or we aren't sleeping is going to be interesting. All in all, this sucks. Big time. It think it would have been okay had I known going into this whole thing that it was a possibility but the recruiter never even hinted at this sort of assignment. And, he also said that if we ever recieved an assignment we didn't want we could always trade with someone else. No go. Matt is forbidden to change and forbidden to turn it down. So basically its desert or leave his family for a year. I don't sound happy. I'm sorry. I don't necessarily think the military is bad, just at the moment I'm not appreciating it. In a year I'll probably start liking it again.

Things on my mind right now

1. I hate hearing my dishwasher run. Its not quiet and there is one part of the cycle that always scares me because it sounds so horrible. 2. I'm 14 weeks today. Does it feel like 14 weeks? No. And thats probably good. 3. I have a cramp in my stomach when I move around and its been there since last night. I'm wondering if this is something I should call the doctor about... 4. Matt is supposed to get his orders in a week or two. I'm very curious about where we are going. 5. Murphy's law says that anything that can go wrong will, or anything that could be different will be, or basically, don't expect anything because the exact opposite will happen. So I keep expecting that we'll get assigned to my least favorite place on Matt's wishlist so therefore... 6. I've done really well at getting a good chunk of homework done these past few days. Somehow I have to keep that up for 7 more weeks. 7. The dishwasher is making that yucky, scary noise right now. 8. I wonder how long Emmaline will entertain herself by eating candy and dancing to music in her head. Its nice not having to entertain her right now. 9. I wonder when Matt is going to call. 10. I woke up at 8 this morning and was disappointed that I slept as long as I did. When I got to the computer I realized that I didn't set any of my clocks back so therefore it was still actually 7 and I didn't technically sleep as long as I thought I did. Or did I? 11. I really can't leave a list at the predictable 10 points. So I have to add another one to make it 11.

Last days

We had an amazing trip being able to see Matt. Unfortunately our last day out was marred by some very frustrating situations.

Someone stole one of Matt's shoes. This is a low-down, dirty, rotten thing to do. Matt is not allowed to go off base in his ABUs, he has to have his blues on. And if he has only one shoe, he can not wear his blues! He found out that one of his shoes were gone Sunday morning at 1am when he got up to use the bathroom. Guys had been trickling in over the passed few hours from the hockey game and Matt had gone to bed at 10 so sometime between 10 and 1 someone was up and took a shoe.

Matt spent as long as he could in searching for the missing shoe before church but ended up wearing his ABUs so he wouldn't be late but when church was over he was told by his MTI that he would not be allowed off base unless he found a replacement. We went to the clothing issue store- which was closed of course, then we went to the Base Exchange and found a pair that was similar to what he normally wears and bought those. Unfortunately those did not work and his MTI went to another flight to borrow a pair from them that Matt could use for the day. That was good.

So we ended up loosing about 3 hours of our off base pass and because of that decided not to go to the Riverwalk like originally planned. A little disappointing. After Matt had to go back to the dorm that night the MTIs did a mandatory bag search for every man in the platoon. Some of the guys were really ticked and they still didn't find the shoes.

Luckily there was another guy in another flight who just happened to have 2 pairs of shoes and Matt was ordered to go buy the shoes from him. The guy was kind enough to just give Matt the shoes (a million blessings to him!) and everything turned out great.

Had Matt not gotten a pair of shoes he would have been held over for an entire week until there was another bus headed to where he needed to go. It wouldn't have been calamitous but it wouldn't have been enjoyable.

Certainly, this makes for a good story but it wasn't enjoyable to live through! Matt's stomach was in knots all day!

Our farewell was hard. Matt and I both cried but it was bitter sweet. We know he is going to be done within a matter of months now and we won't be separated again for a little while. Emmaline didn't understand the farewell and at first refused to give Daddy a kiss good bye. But she did and it was sweet.

Sea World

Matt got an off-base pass on Saturday and we decided to head to SeaWorld for a few hours. Sea World is an amusement park and I can't ride rides being pregnant, Matt isn't supposed to in his uniform and obviously Emmaline is way to small to go on her own. So we opted to go just for the shows.

We first went to the Shamu show where they had 3 whales that did tricks. I didn't think Emmaline would really understand the show but she did more oohing and ahhing and clapping than Matt and I did! That was so cool to watch.

The second show we saw was acrobats and dolphins. They had a lot of hi-rise jumping in flashy costumes as the animals swam around and jumped underneath them. Emmaline wasn't as enthralled with this show as with the first but she still did quite a bit of clapping and yelling.

Matt and I were excited to just be able to do something together. And we had something to talk about that wasn't work or stressful.

Pictures!

Daddy carrying Emmaline when trying to exit a crowded show.

Emmaline and Daddy watching Shamu splash the first 10 rows.

Emmaline in mid-'oohh'

Us trying to snap a picture... the best of the tries :)

Daddy listening to Emmaline talk about the fish.

Seeing Matt!

We did not get to see Matt during the Airman run as I was hoping to but we did see him before the Coin Ceremony as he was walking through the field with a few other airmen. He got the biggest grin on his face when he saw us. It was one of those grins where he was trying not to grin but couldn't help it- totally adorable!

We had about 2.5 hours between the airman run and the coin ceremony where Emmaline went running around buring the energy that she didn't really have. She had already been awake for hours and was running on little sleep so most of her energy was from exhaustion.

After the coin ceremony we went on to the honor graduation ceremony where I snapped these few pics of Matt and Emmaline. Unfortunately thats when the camera died (I had just put brand new batteries in too so that was frustrating...but its probably because of all the videos).

Tomorrow Matt gets an off base pass. We are planning on watching the Ultrasound video, his training dvds, trying to find the baby's heart beat on a handheld heart beat thing that I bought. I'm sure we'll go out to eat- maybe to a buffet because he can down a lot of food now!

Saturday we'll probably head to Sea World...and Sunday maybe we'll head to the River Walk. I guess I'll update you as we go!

Don't forget to look at Matt's blog. I've added several posts on each of the ceremonies with videos of each!

Day 2

This trip was interesting... We originally got out of the hotel at 7 but at just after 8 I had car troubles. There was a rain storm all over the state of Texas that was just going to get worse the further south I drove. Suddenly, only minutes after turning the wipers on, the drivers' side wiper stopped working. I pulled off the road thinking I could buy rain-x and it would do the trick. As I was buying that someone suggested that I drive down the road to Auto-Zone to see if they could do anything. They couldn't. They sent me down the road further to an auto shop. At that point the second wiper gave out and I was really worried. I hoped that this didn't cost a lot of money or time. The guys at the shop were all old, mostly toothless and were all gathered around my car. It wasn't creepy...it was more the type of grandpas who enjoy the attention of their granddaughters...it was fun. It turned out that the bolts holding the wipers down had loosened over the years and finally both decided to loosen enough to stop wiping while I was driving. Go figure. The guy charged me only 10$ (yeah, 10$ to tighten 2 bolts but I was just glad they didn't charge 150$ for 'labor costs'!) and I was on my way only 40 minutes after the first wiper gave out. It turns out to have been a really good thing I didn't try to rely on the rain-x because some of the rain turned out to be torrential. Again around 130 Emmaline started getting really cranky and I had to resort to ignoring her again. She fell asleep but this time for a lot less time. ( Did I mention that she went to sleep really late the first night in the hotel because the lights were all on? ) We finally got into San Antonio at 5 and headed out almost straight away to go to dinner. We didn't remember coats (whats a little rain, right?) and thats when the sky opened up the most. We were so soaked that my hair was dripping. It was C-R-A-Z-Y. Again, Emmaline played with everything that was loose, putting it in the bathroom area, pretending it was her tent. I put her down to sleep at 7 but she talked and played in the playpen until I finally turned out all the lights at 9. So another late night. I didn't sleep very well because of being in a new place with a new pillow all on top of anxiety. So we both woke up at 5am. Ayayay!

Day 1 of the Vaca

Emmaline and I left at 7 for the first leg of our journey. I thought she did amazingly well for the first part of the trip. We stopped every hour so I could go to the bathroom (sitting, drinking water and being pregnant doesn't do much for around 130 Emmaline really started going crazy. She had already watched quite a bit of TV (Thanks Valerie! We both Loved it!) and played with her doll and read her books...etc.

By 130 she was ready to take a nap but was milking the fact that I was there. She kept screaming about her pillow or dolly or anything else she could get my attention with. Finally I flipped up my mirror (the one I have to look at her, its way cool) and ignored her completely. For about 15 minutes she screamed her headoff but finally fell asleep for a little over an hour.

We got to the hotel just before Dinner- having made really good time. I pulled out all the overnight luggage and cleaned out the car before we headed out for dinner.

While heading out to dinner I noticed this: see it?

I thought it was cool how well it camofluged into the carpet! I shoved it out of the door though...the idea of it crawling around during the night was creepy!

Here is Emmaline enjoying the hotel room (TV especially!)

And this was her idea of a 'tent'. She piled all the loose items in the room under the counter in the bathroom area. It was quite cute and nice to not have to occupy her for those few minutes!

RIP Grandpa

My grandpa Hanson passed away today. I am not sad, I am not happy, I am sadly devoid of emotion. (Give me a few days maybe). Grandpa Hanson is my dad's adopted father. My dad did not know he had been adopted until he was an older teenager. My grandpa and grandma Hanson had another son- Skip, who is several years younger than my dad. My grandpa wasn't always a good person. He was mentally abusive to his wife and sons most of their lives. He never really knew how to treat women and generally went with the idea that women and children should be seen and not heard. This did not endear him to my mom or my aunt. I think I got to spend time with him maybe 7 or 8 times as a child. Luckily I have no bad memories of him. In fact, the only memory I have is him giving me a stuffed doll- Beast from Beauty and the Beast- when he came for some reason. Probably a holiday. He has had lung cancer for several years. It went into remission at one point but came back even stronger, like many cancers do. My dad has been lucky enough to be able to travel to visit several times these past few months but grandpa's passing is still hard on my Dad. I know my grandpa has led a difficult life and has alienated many of his family members by his behaviors but I still hope that he gets to heaven so he can have a sound lashing by Great Grandma Edith. I hope she'll set him straight and teach him about the church and when we meet again in the eternities we all can have a better relationship with this man. Rest in Peace Grandpa.

Ultrasound

I had my ultrasound this evening. I was really hoping I could download the pictures or video off the DVD but I'm not being able to figure out how to do it. :( The baby's heart beat was 162-164 and was measured to be due April 29- so a few days older than the due date my LMP gave, May 2. The baby was wiggling around, which was fun, but not nearly as much wiggling as what I remember Emmaline doing. Thats okay, a less active child is just fine on my end. Lol. The doctor went on a big speal about all the possible birth defects and all the potential tests that I could take to check for them. I sort of tuned him out because I don't really care. If my baby is going to have a birth defect I'll deal with it but I'm not going to go take every test available just to learn that my baby may have a defect. Not my kind of fun pregnancy experience. I was scheduled for a 3 hour blood test for GD- my 1 hour numbers were significantly lower than I expected but still high enough for concern. Other than that though there really wasn't any concern during the appointment. Yeah! I'm having a baby! And I did get a DVD so I'm excited to take that with me for Matt to see! (Only 6 more days until I see him!)

The Doctor Appointment

I finally got to my first appointment today. And to be completely honest, I wasn't convinced I was pregnant until the doctor said 'yup! definately about 11 weeks!' then she said congratulations. Before now I've had to convince myself I am even though I experience exhaustion, nausea, heartburn, and little flutters. So now I know I'm pregnant for sure for sure. I took the glucose screen today. I'm 99.9% sure I have Gestational Diabetes and I'll be getting a phone call any day to meet with a dietition and start getting things worked out. And then after this pregnancy I'm definately going to remember to have myself checked to see if I have type II because having GD once is a good indicator but having it twice is almost as good as a guarantee. The blood draw hurt- and still does several hours later. Not fun. Because I'm already 11 weeks the doctor tried for a heartbeat but couldn't find it. It didn't bother me because I wasn't even expecting them to look for it. And I'm sure I'll get to see the baby wiggling and squiggling soon. I was also scheduled for an ultrasound (yeah! already!) for Wednesday - which makes me totally happy because now I can take pictures with me when I see Matt. And he can have his own picture of our little beanie baby. Overall the entire appointment went very well and I'm happy to report there were no complications.

My trip

So some plans have changed but the main point is there: I'm leaving for Matt's graduation in 10 days! Originally I was going to drive with my brother and we were going to do the 15 hour trip in one day but I decided not to do that anymore and take two days to drive instead. So I'll be leaving in a week from Tuesday, drive for 8 hours, stay in a hotel for the night, wake up and do it all over again. The money I would have spent on food for my brother will probably be about the same as the money I spend on the extra 2 nights of hotel. I don't have to worry about getting up super early and being tired all day when driving. I also don't have to feel rushed when stopping for any reason. Originally I was picturing Emmaline couped in the carseat for nearly the entire 15 hours but now I'll be able to let us both run around at rest stops a few times and not have to worry about making it to our destination on time. I'm already starting to pack and gather up stuff that I know I'll need/want. Its so exciting knowing I'll see him so soon! Yeah!

Free Stuff

I checked Facebook this morning and a friend of mine posted a code for a free breastfeeding shawl. I remember one of my friends doing this during the summer and she got a really cool shawl with a bag and everything for only the cost of shipping and handling. I checked out the website, found the shawl that I liked (it was 32$) put in the code and it made the shawl free! So I paid 9$ S/H (which is actually pretty cheap for a shawl like that.) I'm excited to be recieving this in the mail here soon. The problem was the result of suddenly getting the good deal: I've been consumed with spending all my time this morning online looking for more great deals. I have not found any yet. Most of the 'freebies' online are for diaper samples or desitin or something- which I'm not entirely interested in at this point. We are still working on the tubes we recieved with Emmaline. I have looked at many many online websites claiming to show you how to get free things- and most don't do more than sign you up at Pampers.com and such. I've also spent a long time combing through the sale and free adds on Craigslist.com. The problem there is generally distance- most of these 'good' sales are an hour or more drive away and I'm always afraid someone is going to get to it before I even call and I hate those conversations. If anyone has heard of great baby giveaways, let me know. I'm in the market for a baby sling, a boppy cover (neutral color), a baby swing, and potentially other fun things as I run across them. P.S. If you want to get a breastfeeding cover as a babyshower gift or have one for future use yourself, the website is uddercovers.com and the code is 1free. Enter the code during checkout- make sure you press 'apply' or it won't take the money off! I don't know how long this will go on so get it now if you want it!

Boy or Girl?

I am still no where close to knowing the gender of my baby. But this morning Emmaline kept saying 'baby sister, baby brother' over and over again. So I asked her (which I have done a few times before) if we were having a brother or a sister and she said 'brother and sister'. I said 'we can't have both can we?' And she responded 'Yes!' So, for fun, I decided to go online and see if I could 'predict' the gender of my baby. The result? The Chinese Lunar Calendar says I'm having a girl (based on age and time of conception). And the 'old wives tales' say I'm 50/50 for having either based on certain cravings and body changes and such. So the result? Emmaline says we are having a brother and a sister. I'm inclined to believe her...just when each is coming is the question! I keep thinking that she is closest to the veil, she has seen her siblings a lot more recently than I have so she ought to know. Unfortunately knowing doesn't equate to accurately reporting when asked. Lol!

10 Good Things

1. I finally got a doctor's appointment scheduled! 2. I recieved the paperwork I need to get my military ID! 3. Emmaline is getting close to being potty trained. 4. I got to talk to Matt yesterday! 5. Matt recieved the Marksmanship award! (hopefully more details later) 6. I have more energy these days and my house is almost clean! 7. I've been plugging away at my homework and getting close to being done! 8. I get to see my husband in 2 weeks 2 days! 9. I think I already felt my baby kick (soon I know but I could swear thats what it was!) 10. I have a lot of great friends who've fed me, watched Emmaline and listened to me whine these past several weeks. Thanks guys!

A cool thought

The few days before I found out I was pregnant we saw this double rainbow when we were out and about. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that before so I snapped a picture. You have to look closely to see the top one, it looks like its coming out of the top of the tree.

I remember talking to Matt a lot about wanting a baby at this point and wondereding if this double rainbow could be a promise to Matt and I. Sort of hokey but I like putting significance into things like this. Makes me feel special.

Three days later we found out I was pregnant and now I keep wondering about that rainbow. So I figured I'd post the picture and let you all see it. I like the idea that it was 'my' promise that day.

I'm so grateful for my husband and my daughter and the baby that is coming. I'm thankful that God watches over my family and guides us where we need to go. Although life is hard lately, life is good.

October

Tomorrow is the first day of October and I have to say I'm shocked its already this late in the season. Summer seemed to fly right passed and now fall is melting into Winter-like weather. Soon it'll be too cold to leave the door open all day, too cold to run down the street to get my mail without a jacket, too cold to go to the park without worrying about runny noses. A few updates: Emmaline is doing really well potty training. I decided I took the wrong tactic the first go around and was too in-your-face with it. I backed off and pretty much let her lead and tell me when she needs to go. We've only had one accident all week! She keeps her diapers dry 2 out of 3 nights and rarely wets during naps now. We've even tried going out and about to Walmart, church and my parents house without having accidents. I'm so proud of her. Unfortunately it still takes a lot of time and energy on my end because she can't reach the sink or pull her pants back on by herself. Hopefully that'll all be happening soon. Or I could get a taller stool. Matt has only 3 weeks left of Basic Training before moving onto his job training. I'll be getting a new letter from him tomorrow (if all goes well) so check his blog (link to the right) to read all about what he has to say. As of last week he actually sounded really good and pretty cheerful. I am trying my best to get a doctors appointment for this baby...that is proving more difficult than I ever imagined because of a paperwork delay on Matt's end. At this point I'll probably be in the second trimester before I ever get an appointment- that makes me sad. Or if I'm lucky I'll figure out a way to squeeze it in before I leave to see Matt. Otherwise I'll just continue to deal with the nausea and exhaustion that comes with the territory. And I'm thinking of names...but until I can talk to Matt about them its all just up in the air. I hope everyone is having a good fall, having reaped all their harvests (literal and figurative I guess) and looking forward to Christmas. Thats right, time to start thinking about Christmas presents. *Usborne plug: I'm starting some book parties this month to get people ready for Christmas. Let me know if you want to order anything or see a catalogue. They are great for infants- preteen and great to give to your own kids or as family gifts. Let me know!*

Soup

I made soup today. It was yummy. I put stew meat and potatoes in it and then ate two bowls full. And then I had a bunch of the broth. It was very yummy. ...and I hate TV shows that end the season with something like "I'm gunna die on my due date!" Stupid Stupid Stupid.

Hotels

I just reserved a hotel for Matt's graduation. I hate doing that. It always makes me nervous. I wanted to get a hotel really close to the base but I didn't end up getting the one that I knew was the closest- it didn't look like it had an internet connection which my brother requires or he won't come with me. So the hotel we chose is 2.5 miles away and a friend of mine said that is sort of in the ghetto of San Antonio. Oops. The reviews online from people who went either raved or ranted. And thats always difficult to decide. I figured I'd trust the ones from this year- they all raved- because its possible the hotel updated all their bedding/towels etc and the people that ranted pretty much ranted about that. Anyway, I spent only about half of what I was expecting to spend as well. And that could either be a really good thing or the biggest mistake ever. Cheap hotels could be cheap because they need customers, because they are garbage or because you just happened to run into a good deal. Hopefully this is more along the lines of needing customers or a good deal. If the hotel is garbage all I can do is be glad that we paid only what we did. If the hotel is really good on the other hand, I may just feel like I got the best deal in the world. Honestly though, how much time are we going to spend in the hotel room? Probably not much. We'll probably be on base for much of two days and out and about eating and spending time together for the other two days. So as long as there is an internet connection for my brother it shouldn't matter how cheap it is. Oh, and there was a continental breakfast advertised. Its probably not nearly as good as the breakfast that Matt and I got before he went off to Basic- that breakfast was eggs, oatmeal, waffles, buscuits and gravy, toast, bagels, fruit, etc. They really went all out for a good breakfast there. This breakfast is probably a few muffins and some toast. But the room has internet. Have I said that yet? Thats pretty important. Lol.

I feel like...

an obsessed teenager! Remember in HS when you idolized the football star? Or when you had a huge crush on some other unattainable boy? I have fallen in love with someone and I wait endlessly for him to notice me. The moment I get some sort of recognition from him I obsess over the meaning of every line, every pause and every tone in his voice. I read and reread all the letters he passes to me and I memorize his handwriting. Then after I've told all my friends every single word that my love has said I wait for days more until finally I recieve some other recognition from him that I exist. So I feel like I'm an obsessed teenager again, focusing all my energy on an unatainable man and idealizing him in the process. Luckily he is already my husand and the obsession is quite a bit more warrented than a highschooler's crush.

Happy Birthday!

Emmaline turned 2 today! We had a party for her this morning with a few friends from church. The theme for the party was 'Balls' and I had a bunch of round things. Balls, bubbles, smarties, cupcakes, etc. We started off playing with the balls and the kids ran around popping bubbles and kicking the balls a bunch. We played a game where we passed the ball around and they got fruit snacks if the ball stopped with them. It was sort of hokey but the kids didn't care. She enjoyed the presents but mostly fixated on the first few presents and we had to pry her away to open the other ones. She got: several outfits (including a princess skirt), a toy broom, necklaces, puzzles, a little people set, a potty doll, and twin baby dolls as well as a new plate and cup set. She played with the dolls for a few hours after the party and I practically had to pry her away for a nap. She ended up taking two of her dolls with her to bed- so cute! Oh! Grandma Beach sent her a present a few days ago- a fuzzy pink pillow and a pink and purple blanket as well as some pompoms. Emmaline loves shoving the pompoms in her pockets and running around with them. She also loves me wrapping her up in the blanket like a baby and cuddling with the pillow. Pictures!

Emmaline and her cupcake. She made the crown a few days ago with me and was obsessed with putting as many stickers on it as I would allow. She has a napkin in her hand...like she thinks she's being danty but if you see her face...

These are two friends that came to the party: Lily and Whitney. Both of them got a kick out of throwing the balls around (in the background).

Another cake picture- you can see another guest in the background, Lincoln.

The girls got tired of running around in the sun and decided to play on the patio for a bit. Emmaline, Lily, Whitney, and Ellie.

I know my mom got a bunch of pictures so I hope I'll actually get around to getting them from her. Its always fun to see what other people noticed and took pictures of.

Happy Birthday!

I Really Am A Princess!

Emmaline's latest thing is being called 'Princess'. I don't know how this started, how she got the idea or why it is that it stuck. It started one morning when I woke her up and I said 'Good morning Sunshine!' and she immediately told me 'princess!' I didn't think much of it, got her out of the crib and got her dressed. Later, when getting her ready for breakfast I said 'come on baby girl, get in the highchair!' and she immediately responded 'princess!' After all day of hearing 'princess' when I said anything to her I finally caught on that she wants me to call her princess, not sunshine, baby-girl, or any of the other wonderful nicknames I've devised for her. This has been happening for about two weeks now and she not only corrects me but her uncles and her grandparents as well. Its sort of difficult to describe how it is she corrects us constantly so I figured I'd get it on video:

Pregnancy issues

So, I know I've only known I've been pregnant for 2.5 weeks but I have a list of things that are already bothersome. With Emmaline I remember having some mild food aversions and being very tired during the third trimester but overall I didn't have many issues other than having Gestational Diabetes. This baby? I have a constant stomach ache and food that I'm absolutely craving this meal is completely repulsive during the next meal- enough to make me want to throw up. And I'm exhausted completely all the time. I'm trying to continue exercising because supposedly it helps keep energy levels up and labor will be easier but I find that when I'm done exercising (even lightly) I'm lightheaded and my legs are wobbly. Any energy exput is severe enough to make me need a nap. So I'm thinking I'm having a boy. With this pregnancy being so different from the one with Emmaline I don't think it could be a girl. Unless there are two of them.

Stories to make you Laugh

Matt and I don't generally like the same flavor of icecream. One time, we each bought our own box of icecream to eat. Within a matter of days mine was gone (I'm addicted to icecream) and Matt's was still there. I tried to ignore it but after several attempts I decided I wanted to dig in to his. Matt always opens the icecream boxes by the end of the carton (weird because when you get to the bottom of the carton you get your hand dirty trying to dig it out). I opened his box with a spoon in the other hand, planning on taking a few big spoonfuls but when I couldn't reach the icecream, I closed it up and flipped it over. I love the fresh end of a box because you can scrape all the icecream off the flaps...anyway. I dug in, taking several spoonfuls of icecream then dutifully put the box back in the freezer. A few days later we were making up a grocery list and I asked Matt if he wanted me to get him any more icecream. Wanna know what he said? "Sure. But I got ripped off on the last box! There was a huge hole with no icecream in it at all!" The funny part was that he was dead serious and actually thought that the icecream company had left a huge hole on one side of the box that didn't have any icecream. I nearly died laughing. I guess that was good of him not to immediately assume I ate it... Another funny story: Just before Matt and I got married my parents were moving and slimming down their food storage. They gave me a 50lb bag of flour which I did not open before I got married- I did not need to. After Matt and I got married we had to move from Washington to Idaho and we packed the 50lbs of flour somewhere in our moving truck. When we unpacked the truck, Matt was frustrated to discover that the bag had been punctured. It was a pretty small hole but you know flour...every time he moved the bag, flour would come up in a big puff. We didn't have any time at all to move in before my classes started so on the first day I left for class with a short list of things that Matt could do while I was gone. He asked (several times that day, I'm sure) what we were going to do with the bag of flour. I kept saying 'We'll just put it in a garbage bag'. My thinking was that there was nothing wrong with the flour, it just needed to be contained and the garbage bag sounded like the best option. I went off to school and Matt started on his list and sometime during my absence he came across this bag of flour again. It must have really been eating at him that he needed to do something because he remembered that I had said 'garbage bag' and decided to act. When I came home he was pointing out everything he had done for me while I was gone. I don't remember if I asked or if he told me but when we came to the flour bag he said he threw the bag of flour in the dumpster. What? Why did he throw the 50lbs of flour in the dumpster? It took a moment to figure this out. Every time I said 'we'll put the flour in a garbage bag' I thought we are keeping it from exploding any more. Every time I said 'we'll put the flour in a garbage bag' he though I wanted to throw it away! That was our first lesson in communication. If something doesn't make sense...ask! I still tease him about the 50lbs of flour to this day and he still feels horrible about throwing out that much perfectly good flour.

Exahausted and Emotional

I seem to be going on a pattern of one day having tons of energy and the next being totally exhausted. Today is an exhausted day. Yesterday I played outside all morning with Emmaline then took her to the park in the afternoon and the library after that. I got a lot done. Today though I've been tired and sore. The past two weeks have been exhasuting emotionally. Matt and I were both estatic with the news of getting pregnant but the emotions of both being pregnant and Matt being gone are quite overwhelming. Today I got a picture of Matt through email and oddly enough I couldn't stop crying about it. I was happy but so emotional that seeing him was making me cry. I have to blame most of these emotions on being pregnant.

!!! Wordless Wednesday !!!

Potty Training

Emmaline is starting to Potty train. Through all the reading I've done and people I've talked to I've heard "Don't start too early!" So I've patiently waited for about three months to make sure Emmaline is totally ready. I talked to her doctor last week who said she is ready so start now. In order to be ready to potty train, kids have to be able to pull their pants down on their own, verbalize words for their actions (like pee and poop) and recognize when they need to go. The last part is actually a step. First the recognize that they have gone, then they recognize they are going then they finally recognize they need to go. Emmaline has had most of these steps for the past few months but I keep wondering if its too early. All the people I've talked to have said that their kids don't potty train until 2.5-4 years old and Emmaline isn't yet 2. So I hesitate because I really don't want to push her and I really don't want a relaps on my hands and I really don't want to be one of those moms who are still struggling with potty training when their child is going into kindergarten. So today I finally started. I let Emmaline run around the house naked for two hours and the only result was her being extra cranky two hours before naptime. So I think I stressed her out with the being naked part. When she gets up I'm going to try letting her stay dressed but ask her every half hour if she wants to go potty. That is how she has used the potty chair up to now so maybe it'll be less stressful for her. I'll update in a few days I guess if this worked or not. If it doesn't, I might just wait until November or something to start again. I'm in no rush but when my daughter asks to go potty several times a day without prompting? I'm pretty sure she is.

So tired!

I'm so tired right now! Matt and I got to bed at a reasonable hour (see his blog for full details of the trip) but were awake by 330. I tried to catnap but probably got only 15 minutes more sleep because I was worried I'd oversleep. I took a 2 hour nap when I got home and that seemed to help but then this morning I was awake at 4am. Emmaline woke up screaming because she was scared (she rolled onto her talking teddy bear and made it go off) and ended up spending more than a half hour in my bed. But after putting her down I started thinking of all the things that would be happening to Matt at 4am- would they be dumping him off his mattress? Making him do a million pushups? Did he regret what he was doing already? Had he made any friends to cushion the blow? Did he miss me yet? And thinking all that stuff, I couldn't get back to sleep. It was a long morning- I exercized then went to the temple then went out for lunch. So I left the house at 630 and didn't get home for good until 130. Emmaline and I both slept for another two hours but I'm still exhausted. I think most of my exhaustion is emotional rather than physical. Its been a rollercoaster of a few days, thats for sure!

Matt's Going Away Party

We had a party for Matt on Saturday and invited a lot of people from church. Matt doesn't have a ton of close friends so we pretty much did an open invitation and specifically invited people we talked to often. I was expecting around 20-30 people to show up at some point during the evening and was worried that we wouldn't have enough food. We ended up having way too much food because only one family showed up. We still had a lot of fun talking but it was a bit disappointing to not have more people there. But it was fun. We let the family who came estimate how many pushups they thought Matt'll have to do on his first 'official' day of Basic Training. Most people guessed within the 30-50 range with the hightest being 160. I'm guessing more around the 200+ mark because of what I've heard. The idea is that Matt'll count all the pushups he has to do (or at least estimate) and write home. Whoever guessed the closest will win a candy bar. I'd open the guessing to all my online friends but it might be disappointing to not recieve the candy bar in the mail. Sorry. Matt is leaving today. We are taking him into St Louis today, he is swearing in tomorrow (I'll post all about it) then he's gone for the next...forever. I think he'll come home for Christmas so he'll be gone for at least 4 months. Look for more post updates on Matt's new blog.

New Blog

I've created a new blog that is designed specifically to follow Matt and his adventures through the Military. You can get to it by following the link in my profile and becoming a follower or you can type in www.militarymatthew.blogspot.com. I will be posting any news specifically relating to him as well as letters, phone calls etc (when appropriate). You are more than welcome to leave comments or questions for him that will be passed on.

Fire Alarm Update

So after that half-asleep-ramble that I posted the other day, more happened. Over the next few days the alarm went off again at random times- though thankfully it did not go off again during the night! We tracked down the name and phone number of the company in charge of the complex and called but it was already 7pm on Friday night so we had to deal with the alarm through the weekend. The reason I finally called someone was that I heard the alarm while I was taking a walk with Emmaline. On our condo buildings there is an outdoor alarm that is connected to all the alarms in the building. It also has a huge flashing light and such so if the fire people do have to come they can recognize the building quicker (assuming there isn't billowing smoke or something). Anyway, while on that walk I heard that alarm go off. When I got inside Matt said that the alarm inside went off at the same time. I began thinking and decided to knock on doors in our complex and see if other people were having issues as well- they were! So thats when I called the person that could fix things. She ended up calling the alarm company who came out on Monday. It turns out that something was really wrong because he couldn't fix it and Tuesday we had to put up with banging and sawing and other loud noises as they replaced the entire control panel for the system! We are just glad that there is no more loud alarm. And mad because we replaced all the batteries, threw the old ones away, then realized too late that the old batteries were still good. What a waste of 10$!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I have a wonderful story to tell you...sit and listen a while! The story starts two mornings ago, while I was lying peacefully in bed. I was deciding if I should get up and start my day or if I wanted to lay around longer, casually listening to the sounds of the house. I heard the soft tick tick of our clock and I heard my husband's feet shuffling across the carpet. I heard a car start somewhere outside and I heard a faint bird call out my window. The suddenly, as if nothing in the world could stop it, I heard a low hum as the air conditioner came on. It wasn't just a normal hum. It startled me and I lay still to listen for any reason to panic when even stranger still I heard a REALLY loud alarm go off. It lasted for only about 5 seconds but I bolted out of bed and straight to the livinging room where my husband sat, also worried about this noise. We checked around, peeking in the utility closet for anything suspecious and found nothing that would suggest either what was going on with the air conditioner or what would have caused the loud noise. Since my peaceful beauty sleep was interrupted I decided to get dressed and continue on with my day. I'd worry again about the weird noises if they occured again. And occur again they did! That night my husband and I lay in bed, fast asleep. It was nearly 2 am when suddenly the loud alarm went off again. We were both startled to alertness, fumbling to get untangled from the covers and investigate the problem. We both realized that the annoying sound was actually eminating from our fire alarm. We had not had need previously to hear it so didn't recognize its slightly unique sound. We again checked all over our house for any signs of danger and found nothing. The alarm wasn't going off again and we were tired. Just as we were dozing off to sleep fate seemed to step in. We heard the fire alarm once more. Neither of us were able to sleep for quite a while, both worried about our home and wondering if the alarm would sound again. So yesterday, not wanting to experience such sleeplessness again, we bought new batteries. They were 10$- thats expensive. But I was willing to spend that kind of money in order to get a good night's sleep. Matt changed the batteries in all the fire alarms and we rejoiced at having solved the problem. Or so we thought! Last night we crawled in bed with absolutely no thought to the fire alarm. But again, at 2 in the morning, the lovely alarm woke us up. Matt and I were again startled out of our beauty sleep and we both bolted into the livingroom, worried that something may actually be wrong. But after again searching the house we came up empty handed- well, except this time it woke Emmaline up. Luckily she went back to sleep as Matt and I searched through all our paperwork, trying to see if we had an owner's manuel for our blasted fire alarms. Alas, we don't. The fire alarm went off three times last night, two while we were asleep and one while we were stumbling around trying to solve the problem. After a half hour we sunk back into bed to try and sleep more. We were again worried about the alarm blaring once more and inturrupting our sleep. It did not but that didn't save us from tossing and turning with worry. I remember trying to figure out some reason in my mind that the alarms were going off and in my half dazed state came up with the entirely logical explanation that the fire alarm was doubling as an apnea machine for Emmaline and was somehow connected to the internet. Matt began thinking that maybe our vents need to be cleaned out because there is a lot of dust triggering the fire alarm. Who knows? I guess I'll be online a bit today looking for the company that services these alarms and problem solving. Unfortunately it seems like we have to go to sleep tonight before we can see if any of our tinkering works. So thats my story. Its a terrible one of beauty sleep inturrupted and fate playing its tricks upon unsuspecting, innocent people. Hopefully I can tell you the rest of the story later- and with a happy ending!

Finally!

Matt has a job! After this whole, long, agonizing wait, he finally got his job! Our goal was to get him into a flight or mechanical position and we get our wish. He'll go under the Mechanical Aptitude rather than with a specific job. It comes with its drawbacks but it also has its benifits. Pros: Because he has such a high ASVAB score he'll be given a top choice in all the available jobs rather than waiting for a call to come in for something specific now... Also, he leaves August 25! which gets us a paycheck sooner and insurance and gets this whole annoying wait over sooner! Cons: I have no clue where he is going to be for job training nor how long his training will take. I'm quite the planner and not knowing is difficult but now I know for sure that I'll know within a few months... Things are getting started! We have complete faith that the Lord is placing him exactly where he needs to be. A lot of prayers have gone into this, a lot of faith and many more tears than should have. We are both so greatful for all the support we've had from our families during this process. As soon as we know anything more I'll post again. And throughout the process of training I'll post as much of Matt's letters and phone conversations as I can. And his address! I'm sure he'll love getting a lot of letters regardless of how many pushups he has to do!

First Harvest

After arriving home from my vacation I took a look at my plants. When I left I had a handful of tomatoes starting and two zucchini. Now, I have TONS of tomatoes starting and one zucchini died so I have one left.

But! I did get to pick my first tomato. Its not the first tomato grown- no, that one got eaten by a bird. And I was sad about it. But its the first tomato we got to pick! I'm gunna have salad tonight with my baby tomato!

Yea! For gardens!

Travel Home

Have you ever been on a flight where you could swear the pilot was either senile or brand new? Thats how the flight home was. Take off was difficult. I'm used to the plane getting off the ground and having a constant pressure until the plane levels off how ever many feet in the air but this pilot kept leveling off at different heights then continuing the ascent. The result was that I had to pop my ears multiple times and my stomache did a million little flips rather than just a few. Emmaline was tired becasuse she didn't take a nap in the morning and she rarely ever actually falls alseep on my lap- definately not without screaming a lot first. So She had a difficult time staying put for three hours on my lap. By the end of the trip she was opening the window, closing the window, standing up, turning on the light, sitting down, standing up, turning off the light, sitting down, opening the window, closing the window...you get the picture. I wanted to stop her because it was driving me crazy having the light on and off and such but it was keeping her occupied better than anything else I had so I delt with it. The descent was just as crazy as the ascent. For a full 20 minutes I felt like my stomach was sitting next to me. And I had to pop my ears a million times again because we kept dropping! It was sort of scary but mostly annoying. The landing was smooth but slowing down after landing wasn't. The pilot slammed on the breaks twice. The first time it threw everyone forward in their seats where we staid for about 15 seconds before he let up on the break. Everyone chuckled at that but I didn't think it was funny. It was mostly annoying! Getting off the plane was easy and we met Matt at the soonest point he was allowed. Actually, he crossed that line when he saw us but I don't think they really cared. I had Emmaline walking in front of me and when I saw Matt I said "Do you see daddy? Run to him!" At first she just walked a bit faster but when Matt got down on his knees with his arms open she started running. As soon as she got to him she said 'Daddy!' and gave him the biggest hug I've ever seen her give. It nearly made me cry just watching! Emmaline fell asleep in the car on the way home and was quite disoriented upon arriving. She kept saying 'no' over and over and laying on the floor crying. I think she was overwhelmed with being tired, the trip and suddenly being home. After a half hour of trying to get her to calm down and eat something we decided it was best for her to just go to bed. She was out within minutes of being in her crib- and Iwas glad. I had half an inkling that she would have a hard time adjusting to being home again. We all slept in about an hour this morning and Emmaline and Matt have been playing and talking all morning while I've been posting. Although vacations are always nice, its so good to be home!

Week 2

Week 2 wasn't as good as Week 1. Emmaline and Jane really started getting tired of spending all their time together and Emmaline figured out how to make Jane scream. And (holy terror) she enjoyed it! By Wednesday we were doing our best to just keep the girls separated!

We did take them on a few walks and got some cute pics of them being nice to eachother:

And then they went on walks without us... and that was nice too!

We also took the girls to the duck pond to feed the ducks. Emmaline 'got' it a lot better than I thought she would. Unfortunately a lot of the bread she threw went strait down the drainage grate rather than being snatched up by the ducks. But that didn't deter her!

We also went to see her cousins again (pictures of the birthday party are all on other cameras).

I thought it was pretty cute that all three girls were wearing pink.

During Week 2 we also went to church. The ward that Laura and Chris are in is just a Married Student ward, meaning that they don't have a primary. Also, they have a lot of babies but only 2 in nursery! So Emmaline visiting made the nursery 3 kids in total. Big change from the 20 kids that were in nursery when Emmaline started in our ward!

The last 'big' thing that we did (big means I got pictures) was going to the zoo. Emmaline enjoyed pushing the stroller with Andrew in it and pretty much ignored the animals- to be expected.

Laura and I went went shopping on Wednesday (window shopping) as well as going out to eat. Eating out was interesting with both girls- The waitress was first-day-new- and placed us four at a two person table. So we opted to start shoving our stuff onto the next door table to keep it out of reach of the girls.

We also went to book club (talking about Jacob Have I Loved) and we had fruit pizzas for a dessert. Oh My Gosh, they were so good! I thought, oh, I like sugar cookies, I like cream cheese frosting and I like fruit. But I didn't imagine that all three together would be heaven. Sigh. Its nice even just remembering them!

Over all the trip was good. It was hard being away from Matt for so long (I know, I have to get used to it) and it was difficult dealing with Emmaline. She was out of her element and without her dad and had to share toys and I totally understand why she became the Holy Terror but that didn't make it much easier dealing with it. But I did really enjoy talking with Laura a lot, getting to know Chris a little, and seeing Christal and her kids again.