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.