I'm back

I was in Texas, visiting the family for two weeks. I have been home for a week, but boy, things were crazy here. The Navy Bean had/has sleep issues, and the lawn needed to be mowed, the house cleaned, groceries bought, and I'm on the committee for the moms' group that started again yesterday. The trip was good. I got to go out with Camille, without the Navy Bean, and we had margaritas and a great time. I had lunch with an old boyfriend, and had to laugh when he said his only regret about us was that we never slept together. Um, isn't that the regret of every man towards every woman he has ever met in his entire life who has not slept with him? But it was great seeing him again and we had a great (if short, stupid weather/traffic) time. The Navy Bean was still afraid of my brother, but eventually warmed up to him and gave him a kiss. My brother has lost more than 35 lbs and he looks AWESOME! I'm very proud of him.

But, this is by far the most exciting thing going on around here:

look closely. There's pee in that potty chair!!!!

It's not grandma's, but it's home

I made it home!!! Only 45 minutes later than I was supposed to (thanks thunderstorm!) which means I got home at midnight. After sitting in a car for 4 hours and then a plane for 4 hours, I didn't do much yesterday. I did go get groceries and discovered, to my delight, that the commissary now carries Virginia grown produce, so I didn't have to make a separate trip to the local farmers' market. However, upon getting home, I realized my air conditioner wasn't working. Thankfully they were able to get it fixed on the same day. But let's look at some pictures of my Minnesota trip!

This is my grandma, brother and Phoenix

The two girls are cousins' kids and then Phoenix (who is a year older than both of them)

We took the middle one to church with us, and everyone thought she was mine because we look alike. Half of us cousins got the Scandinavian coloring of my grandma and all look alike.

My cousin's husband, her baby, (who is adorable) my cousin Shante and me.

Shante is the cousin I feel closest to and spend the most time with (she drove me the four hours to my grandma's and then back again).

Here is the quilt that I made!

I had a great time in Minnesota, but it was also a little sad. When I go, I usually have grandma all to myself for most of the time. But now (or after the birth of Navy Bean) it won't be that simple. It'll be harder to get there and I'll have to share my grandma! I want my baby to know her though, because, other than my mom, she has been the most influential and important woman in my life. I love my grandma so much and I hope she's around for another 20 years or so (it could happen. She has had several family members make it past 100).

But, I am glad to be home. I am still really uncomfortable, but the little Navy Bean has decided that under my ribs is not very comfortable. I'm trying to clean my house, but not just clean it, spring clean it. This is a little difficult because of all the breaks I have to take, my lack of flexibility and the fact that I just can't lift very much. The good news it, I don't have anything else to do until she is born. I'm hoping this time both flies by and stands still.

Time flies when someone's kicking you

I have hit the final trimester, otherwise known as, the time when you will never be comfortable. Ever. No matter what you try to do, walk, stand, sit, lie down, stretch, whatever, it will hurt somewhere. I have discovered my tailbone. And it hurts. Now I know some of that weight I gained went to my butt, so why isn't it working like a cushion. My grandma was delighted the other day when I placed her hand on my belly and she got kicked about 4 times in less than 10 seconds, but then she asked, alarmed, "What is she doing in there?" I'm not really sure. Moving furniture? I think we may need to change her name from Navy Bean to Jumping Bean. The kicks and hits are coming from farther and farther places on my belly, and I noticed, today, for the first time, that she is obviously trying to place her small body in even smaller places she has never ventured before. Like under my ribs. Maybe that's where she's putting the couch.

This week we watched my cousin's four year old daughter. The first day, she played with the balloons from my grandma's birthday for about an hour. After a while, I got up to walk into the kitchen and she looked at me very strangely. "Hey, is that a balloon under your shirt?" "No, it's a baby." Then she looked at me even more strangely. She placed a balloon under her shirt. "Hey, is that a baby under your shirt?" "Noooooo! It's a balloon."

I am now working on a quilt. We'll see how much I get done before I leave. I'm hoping enough that I can figure out how to finish it when I get home. Well, that's about it here for now.

That's just great!

I am using the internet at the library of a small, rural Minnesota farming community. I cannot get into facebook, because apparently, too may people post naked pictures of themselves on facebook. However, since all my facebook friends are either relatives or people I met at church in Wisconsin, not being able to get there is a tad bit ironic. Also, I cannot get to one of the blogs I normally read. Check out my links and guess which one! But at least I can check e-mail and post stuff here.

My grandma's 80th birthday party went great. Well, as great as a party, organized by the most anal retentive bitchy (I didn't say that!) relative that no one likes can be. She managed to really piss my mom off, but she didn't cry or hit her (I would have done both and gotten away with it, because I'm pregnant!). Seeing all the family was wonderful, although I didn't have as much time with some of my cousins as I would have liked. Funnily, I was able to spend more time with my brother here than when I go home (we shared a motel room, and at home there's always 50 people around). That was really nice. However, I am tired of all the women in my grandma's generation, who haven't had babies in 50 years, tell me how huge I am. I don't know how many times I had to verify that yes, I'm only 6 months, there's only one, and yes I know for sure the conception date because my husband is in the navy and is never home, thus, very easy to figure out when it happened. Besides, I CAN STILL SEE MY STUPID FEET, so I'm not that big (I cannot however, reach them very easily). But they're all gone now, so I don't have to worry about it. Now, I'll just make sure I walk plenty and eat as well as I can.

Well, I hope everyone is well. Who knows when I will get back here again to update.

I'm back and I have wireless!

I guess I'll start at the beginning. The place we stayed at in Florida had wireless, it just never worked for more than 4 minutes at a time, making it difficult to post a blog.

So, Wes's kids did not know he was coming home for two days. On Friday morning I told them I had to pick a friend up from the airport. On the way to the airport, peppered with questions, I told them it was a guy, which seemed to shock them, but that he had gone to high school with their dad and I. And, I hadn't seen him in a while, but he had told me he had grown a ridiculous looking mustache (they get bored on the ship, and what better time to look ridiculous than when he's not with me). I spotted him right away and pointed out the ridiculous looking mustache to the kids. They were in shock. Almost as much shock as when I told them I was pregnant. They were also afraid of the mustache. I'm sure you'll understand why. I made him shave it the second we got home and then the rest of the weekend was spent on the go. It went by quickly and then we dropped the kids off and head to Florida!

A very ridiculous looking mustache!

You can't tell I've gained 21 lbs from this picture!

Our hotel was right on the beach. It took about 3 minutes to walk down there. I was able to watch dolphins from our balcony everyday! Wes had to work during the day, so I would take a walk on the beach in the morning and then read in the afternoon until he got off work. We went to the beach a couple of times and did some bird watching (that will be another post).

Doesn't he look better without that thing on his face?

My friend Sarah and I.

My friend Sarah, who moved at the beginning of June, was there visiting her husband too, so we all went out to dinner. Overall, I really liked Florida and it was wonderful getting to see my husband. On the morning I left, he cried (well, he teared up and when I asked him if he were crying, he just said I should probably leave right away).

I'm back home, after a 10 and a 1/2 hour drive yesterday. Which is why I've been having contractions all day today. They go away if I don't move and drink lots of water, but sometimes, I get tired of lying in bed! I had a doctor's appointment this morning and they basically said it was probably the drive, but contact someone if they don't eventually go away. They better go away, I leave on Friday for another 2 weeks! I plan on writing my posts before I leave so when I do get internet access, I'll just be able to post without writing.

This is a vacation?

I arrived in Texas late last Thursday night. Friday was spent helping my sister pack up her apartment. Then we went and saw "Baby Mama" which was good. However, as most comedies do, this one had a sad spot, and I can tell I'm pregnant because I started crying and could not stop. I think my sister was a little freaked out. But it was all good. Saturday, I saw various family members and played various games and just generally had a great time, although I didn't get a nap, nor did I get to bed early. Sunday was spent helping my sister move into her third floor apartment, and yes, I did make several trips. Nine, to be exact. It was all light stuff, but I probably should have taken it a little easier. I was in bed by 8:30p. Monday, I got to see Camille!!!! We went to Babies r us, where my head exploded with all the stuff I apparently need to raise a healthy, well-developed child. Then we just hung out, and I got to see her kids. Her youngest, who is three, wanted to know, since I have a baby in my belly, if so did she. But, again, no nap and I was exhausted. Back to bed by 8:30p.

Tuesday, I felt much better and Phoenix came over! I got to take a nap with him, and got many, many hugs. But funniest of all, he wanted to know where I was sleeping. More specifically, he wanted to know if I was sleeping with Nana and Grandpa. I guess when he spends the night, he doesn't get to sleep with him, and he really wants to. So he was very concerned about whether or not I was getting to sleep with them. He also wanted to know if I was moving in with them, but I'm not. Today, Phoenix came over again. We made banana muffins, as you can see.

Cute aprons!

Yummy!

The funniest thing today, Phoenix wanted to know, if I had a baby in my tummy, how it was going to get out!?! He's four, and he thinks girls don't pee because we only have butts, so I certainly wasn't going to explain it to him, but he really did look rather concerned. Maybe I'll just show him the video after the fact!

I am a zombie

The trip to Minnesota was wonderful. They were in the midst of an Indian Summer, so some of the tress had begun to turn colors, but it was still warm. It was also extremely windy.
We hiked a couple of different days. We identified a bird we hadn't seen before. But even cooler, we watched a Red-tailed Hawk fly around with a snake in its talons. Minnesota is beautiful and if it weren't so cold in the winter, I would consider living there.

My grandma loved Wes. I didn't get to see as much of my family as I wanted (maybe next time Amynda!) but I did get to see my cousin, who had just had a baby.

Can you hear my biological clock over the internet? I really want one NOW, but my husband tells me there's a waiting period of 9 months. Since the lovely navy is taking him away from me again next spring, we're hoping to time things so he'll be home. I really hope it happens the way we want it to. Overall, the trip was great, even though we got stuck in Chicago for while. But when we got home, all hell broke loose.

My husband's new work schedule: 4 am to about 4 pm. I am so tired. Why? Because he wants me to go to bed with him at 8:00pm. Only I'm not tired. So I just lay there forever. And then when I do fall asleep, I wake up every hour because I'm afraid he won't wake up when his 3 alarms go off at minute and a half intervals, and then when they go off 5 to 9 minutes later, depending on the length of the snooze. It's only after he leaves for work, at 3:30am, that I'm able to fully fall asleep. That doesn't leave me a lot of actual sleep. But it gets worse, for Wes, not me.

The day after we got back, Wes's boss got fired. And Wes got his job (temporarily). In the military rank does not equal position. But today, Wes got promoted (see picture above). The promotion includes a pay raise (yay!), the new job doesn't (boo!). So now he has more work, crappy work hours and he's in graduate school. He's one tired puppy. Gotta love the navy.

Did I get that right?

I've been messing with my page, trying to make it look all cool and everything, and I accidentally erased all my links. I was able to find most of the them, but not all them. If your link disappeared, it's not because I don't love you anymore, it's because I'm a highly intelligent person. I've been frantic trying to figure out how to get them back, then today, I realized (duh), just read my comments and get the links from there. Boy, I am brazilliant!

In other news, we had the kids this weekend and it was possibly the best weekend we've ever had with the kids (minus the sunburn). We went to the beach and had a great time. We played games, we played with toys, we went to church. We just had a great time. Although, the kids apparently think we play with their toys when they're not here. They asked, incredulously, what we did when they weren't there if we didn't play with their toys. Hmmmm. . . .I wonder!

Speaking of what we do when the kids aren't here, do you know how hard it is for two very tired, very sunburned people, one who has bruised his leg and pulled his groin trying to keep his daughter from being washed away by the ocean, have sex? Very difficult. But still worth it.

Newport Rhode Island

I am back from my mini-vacation to Newport Rhode Island. Wes and I had a great time and the weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful. However, if you know anything about East Coast stuff, you're probably saying to yourself, "hey, that's the USS Constitution and it's in Boston." Yes, you are correct. Since my husband in is the Navy and we were only an hour away from Boston, we went to visit the oldest commissioned naval ship in the US (and the oldest one in the world that still floats). My husband is also working on a model of this ship, so we took about 50 pictures. Since I had never been in Boston, it was cool just to be there.

Since we were in Boston anyway, and just a few steps from the Bunker Hill memorial, we decided to go visit. I must say that Boston is a beautiful city and even though we didn't go far, I thought it was a great area. The memorial had been closed for repairs, but "lucky" for us, is had just opened the day before. I say "lucky" because we decided to go to the top. 294 steps up, a quick (less than 3 minutes) look around and 294 steps back down. We were hurting by the time we got back down. But it was worth it. The view of the city was amazing.

Newport is known for it's summer homes, of which we visited five. Newport itself was quite charming and even though the trees were still bare, I completely understand why people would want to summer there. The above house is called The Marble House and was built for one of the Vanderbilt families. The houses were elaborate, beautiful and ostentatious. The Breakers, another Vanderbilt home, was 138,000 square feet and took a whole acre of land. The Marble House was the fourth house we visited. However, our jaws still dropped when we walked in. This was the most amazing, most beautiful, most spectacular house I've ever seen (of a private citizen: I've seen palaces in Russia). The trip to Newport was worth it just to see this house (but if you're there anyway, see The Breakers and The Elms too).

The trip to Newport was wonderful. I got to spend time with my husband (it was so good to see him again), visit (drive through) 6 states I'd never been too (Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts), and see new stuff. I also got to eat a lot of really good seafood. The drive there was 13 hours, thanks to a few mistakes of mapquest and my husband (we also hit the New York area at 5:00pm on a weekday). The trip back only took me 11 hours. My riding companion was another officer's wife, but she doesn't have a driver's license. The only thing I will say about her is that her favorite channel is the Disney channel, her favorite books are kids' books, and she's excited because her family got her a leap frog game for Christmas so she can work on her math. She also spent ages 3 through 18 in foster homes. At least I had company.

Unfortunately my husband has to stay in Rhode Island for three weeks. But, I did have substitute teacher training yesterday and I hope to start subbing next week. I have been really tired but I don't know if that's from the Zoloft or because so much is going on that I'm really tired. I guess we'll find out. Things are going well and I'm happy.

I can go outside without a coat on!

I am home in Virginia Beach. It is warm and sunny. I have my bedroom window open. It is a beautiful thing. There is so much to write about, so this will probably be unorganized and incomplete.

Things I did when in Minnesota.
I crocheted an entire afghan. The size is slightly off because I started adding stitches somewhere and we didn't take out all the rows that had extra stitches. We only took out 8 of them (yes, we caught it after about a foot). But I did it and I enjoyed it and I will do it again. I am creative!!! So there.
I started flossing my teeth everyday. Something I always knew I should do, but never "had time" to do it. I had plenty of time there. Now my teeth will be even more beautiful.
I decided I will never live where it gets that cold. I don't mind the snow: it can be beautiful. But the cold, that's completely different. I'm just going to talk half of my family into moving someplace warmer.

I had a wonderful time with my grandma and I know I will always cherish these memories. I got her to tell me alot of stories. Some I wanted to know (when she started crocheting, driving, quilting), others I didn't want or need to know (how my grandpa was in bed). But I'm sad because I know she's lonely now. When I called to tell her I was home she told me how much it meant to her that I was there and she started crying. I hope she starts getting involved in her church and with her friends again. I don't want my grandma to be lonely. I did ask her to come with me, but she said no.

I also got to spend some time with my cousin and we had a great time. I really do like my family. I just wish they weren't all so far away.

I've already picked up my mail and paid all the bills. Now I just have to read the 10 magazines and 4 catalogs that I also got. And figure out what the book club sent me that I didn't order. I need to clean and do laundry (after I unpack), get groceries, clean out my fridge because some genius decided not to do it before they left (oh, if I wait three weeks, they'll be able to walk into the garbage disposal), e-mail and call a ton of people (if you're one of them, please be patient) and then find a job. And the time changes tonight, so it's like I'm losing two hours instead of one. At least I get to go outside without a coat on. Did I mention that my plants hate me right now too? I think most of them will revive shortly though.

On a sadder note, while I was gone I found out that my first youth pastor, who has remained a family friend, passed away. He has had brain cancer (or something like that) for more than two years. They originally gave him less than 6 months, but he got into a trial study. During that time he was able to put his things in order to make sure his wife would be taken care of and he was able to walk his only daughter (and only child) down the aisle when she married. He was a wonderful man with a great sense of humor. He was truly a godly man, one who loved God and showed God's love to others. He will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

Also, Phoenix's aunt (his mama's sister) died of a drug overdose on Wednesday. She was only 20 years old. Phoenix doesn't understand what's going on, but he does understand that his mama is sad and that she keeps crying. They were very close and it looked like her sister was trying to get clean. I guess it only takes one relapse. I feel so bad for them. Do you think it would be appropriate for me to send a sympathy card?

That's all I'm going to write for now. I have plenty more to write later. I hope everyone is doing well and I'm so glad to be back home.

I'll bring the blizzard

Thursday was my birthday. And what did I get. I got a blizzard. With 18 inches of snow. This is me yesterday (Friday) in the pile of snow taken from my grandma's one car driveway, before the last 3 inches of snow arrived. Yes, apparently I am a bad weather bringer. If you remember, my family got stuck in Colorado a couple days after Christmas in all that mess. And when I tried to get out to MN the whole Northeast was buried. And now this. I am so ready to go home.

But the day was good. My grandma made me a cake. My dad called early to let me know how beautiful the weather was in TX (thanks dad). My mom called later. And then, to make me very, very happy, Camille called. That really made my day. I knew she was thinking of me, but I hadn't given her my grandma's number and my cell doesn't work up here (I told you I was in the middle of nowhere). She had called my mom to get my number and that made me so happy. When I went to bed I thought about what a great friend she is and realized that we have been friends for 20 years. And I'm sure we'll be friends for 20 more years. Then we'll still be only 33 years old. Because I just can't live through many more blizzards!

Minnesota living

Hi Everyone! I managed to make it to my uncle's to water his plants and get on the web. Since I offered to do this, I am here by myself (without my grandma asking me every 30 seconds if I'm done yet) so I thought I'd say hi.

The airport experience was horrible, although not as bad as some. I was supposed to leave Virginia at 11:20am and arrive in MN at 3:30p. I left Virginia at 6:00p and got to MN at 10:00p. But at least I made it. My grandma is happy that I'm here. I've started crocheting and it is really hard. It kind of makes my fingers cramp. Consistent yarn tension is hard to achieve. I haven't gained any weight either, although grandma is trying. It's been pretty warm, so I've been walking everyday. I've seen deer everyday too, but too far away to take pictures. We're getting stuff done too. Today we ordered my grandpa's memorial stone. It's going to be beautiful. We've filled out all the paper work needed for all the insurance and such. The evenings are very, very long. I'm getting a lot of reading done. And that's about it. I feel very cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes that's nice, sometimes, not so nice.

I hope everyone else is doing well.

All packed

I'm all packed and ready to go. I'm a bit nervous about the weather. I'm not going through Chicago (which cancelled 400 flights today) but I am going through Philadelphia. It's having bad weather, but not as bad as other areas. In Minnesota, it's just cold. It's supposed to be a high of 0 (zero) tomorrow. My cousin is picking me up and we'll probably drive to my grandma's tomorrow night (if I get there). It's about a 4 hour drive. Yes, my grandma lives in the middle of nowhere. My cell phone doesn't work and I'll probably only get to check my e-mail once a week. Although I may just put my computer in the car and drive around until I find some wireless. My grandma is really looking forward to my visit. If it wasn't so cold, I'd be more excited too. The area is very beautiful in the summer, right next to a lake. During the winter, it's cold. Just plain cold. And my grandma likes to bake. I'm going to be fat when I get back. I do enjoy my grandma's company, but there's not a lot going on up there. She's going to teach me to crochet. So, for three weeks, I'll be crocheting and eating baked goods. Yes, that probably is it. I hope you all have a great three weeks.