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 !!!