February wrap up

It's been too long since my last post! I got emails from various people that didn't know we were having a baby and found out through the blog - SORRY! We hoped we had made our rounds, and thought the domino would take effect - and for the most part, it did. We're heading into our 4th month here in a week, and the doctor is sticking with a very late August/early September baby.

I have promised to email my Aunt Michelle first when we find out the baby's gender, which should be in April. All the old wives tales says it's a girl, but I still have some doubt. Only 3 people think it's a boy, but those people are hardly ever wrong. We'll see! We just had our first ultra-sound and it's amazing how our little bird already looks completely like a baby. Seeing him/her move was the best part. Our child is active - which leads me to wonder if this gives any insight as to how wild they'll be once they are born.

Jon and I were secretly hoping for twins so we never have to do this again - but it doesn't appear that way. :) Jonathon has been so funny - he loves the "supplies" part of this process. He always picks up the bottle liners when we're at the store and we often look online for all the product reviews. We have been discussing names a lot. When we watch tv, we always turn to each other and ask about a name we just heard. So far, we don't gravitate towards anything really traditional for first names. Taylor Grace and Jackson James are the newest additions to the list.

Since Jon is adopted and we don't know his family medical history, the doctors have been poking me with needles non stop. I actually need to go in again next week for more testing! My arms are starting to hurt! So far, everything is fine, however we have some major tests coming up. We know the Lord will take care of this baby though and cover it in blessings.

I'm headed to Colorado to get my braces off! It's a nice time to go since Jonathon will be in Texas for training. I'll be there for almost a month - which I can hardly believe.

We hope everything is going great with everyone out there!

And baby makes 3

I'm pretty sure Jonathon has called everyone, so I think it's safe to let the cat out of the bag... We're having a baby.

No really, we are. We're in our fifth week and we already have doctor appointments set up.

This was completely unplanned and came as a huge shock to us, but we're welcoming it and glad we get such a great blessing. Jonathon and I both are adjusting to the reality that in 8 months we'll be more tired than we ever have been.

I'm trying to convince him to still go to Colorado for the holidays, but since we just got back from traveling SO much, I think both he and I are still mentally worn out. We're still thinking about it, but with a new baby, how could we not show him/her off?

My mom thinks it's a boy - Jennifer thinks it's a girl - Emilie wants a girl - Matthew wants a boy - Ricky changes his mind - Jon wants a boy and I am now leaning towards a girl. Those are all the predictions so far...but I'm pretty sure there is going to be a pool going.

So far all I want is peperoni pizza - which I have yet to have. Giving up Diet Coke was horrible, but I did it and haven't had one since we found out we have a baby bird. (That's what we call it, for whatever reason)

Jonathon is back to work now, after having so much time off. I was so sad to see him go. I hate sleeping alone, but I'm getting more used to it. I know he likes being back, and that's what matters.

I hope everyone had happy holidays!

Winter

Here are the pictures that our wedding photographer took while we were in Colorado for Christmas. (Steve Glass)

I'm only posting a few because there was like 151 of them or something!

After the holidays

I think I'm still trying to catch up after all of the excitement of the holidays. Jonathon graduated from ALS December 17, and we were off to Omaha on December 18. However, my connecting flight was late resulting in us missing our plane to Nebraska. After spending a VERY long night in the Minneapolis airport we were on our way again. We spent a weekend with Jonathon's family. They had arranged a little Christmas get together with their family so they could celebrate with Jon and I. I enjoyed having little kids around again - as the ones in my family seem so old now.

We took off for Colorado the morning of the 22nd and my dad and little brother, Matthew were at DIA waiting for us. My cute little brother brought me taffy - my favorite. We were so exhausted from the 5 planes or so we were already on (and hours of driving to and from airports) that my parents arranged for my dad's side of the family to come to my parents house for Christmas Eve so that we didn't have to drive to Denver. It was amazing to see everybody and definitely made our night special. As usual, my sister, Jennifer and I wrapped all the gifts together and on Christmas we got to open our own.

I keep getting asked what we got so - - Here's a break down of some of the favorite gifts: Emilie got a new TV, computer games, the DS cooking game thing...Ricky loved his Hulk game, a Wii thing...Matt and Emilie got Guitar Hero World Tour with all those weird instuments...Jon and I got a Sony Handycam. That was my favorite gift for sure. We have already started filming our dog and cat doing funny little things. It's so small and has this touch screen thing. We also got a lot of kitchen items, and some other fun stuff. Thank you!

We truly had an amazing Christmas. It was great so see everyone that we don't get to see too often. (And it was great seeing the people I am so used to being around) I'll be back there in March to get my braces off!

Thanksgiving

I was a bit worried at first as to how I would deal with being without family for Thanksgiving. As it turned out - it was completely fine. I don't eat meat anyway, so I didn't miss the turkey part. Jonathon watched football ALL day, so I was in and out of the living room with him. Jonathon made snow crab for dinner, with some pasta, corn, etc. We took Bella on her walk, and went to bed. We are so old!

We're getting super excited about going home for Christmas. We leave Maryland the 19th of December for Omaha. Jonathon graduates from ALS on the 18th, so we need to be here for that. We leave Omaha to go to Colorado on the 22nd. I'm so thankful that this year we will be with family for Christmas - especially since we can't guarantee that for next year. We'll be back in Maryland just in time to ring in 2009. I can't believe how fast this year has gone!! I'm looking forward to next year starting - hopefully we won't have quite as much going on as we did this year! It's great to just have the deployment over with, and moving over with - and finally just breathe.

My best friend, Shawna, is getting married in June. I'll be going to Texas for that by myself. Jonathon and I are planning on going to Michigan in July to visit his friends and my family. It's so great that we can see so many people in one trip. I'm looking forward to just going boating and relaxing! We're hoping to train the dog not to bark so that she can come, too.

Mission Complete!

Jonathon is FINALLY home!! YAY! He's been home for almost 2 weeks, and it's been crazy but amazing all the same.

I gave him a pretty in depth tour of the house when he first got in. I showed him where everything is/goes, etc. However, this didn't stop the flood of questions on where to locate things. When I told him a certain closet, he looked lost. I have faith that he now knows all the ins and outs of our home. Great huh?

Not only can he find his own socks, but he has mastered the dishwasher (seriously) and he has taken almost all of the responsibilities of the dog. It's great to have him home - not for the help, although it's nice - but just to be with him. It's great going out to dinner a few times a week, and double dating. It's amazing that suddenly watching a movie at night seems like such a privilege and a blessing. He cooks a lot, and although we mostly eat totally different meals, we still eat them together. We walk the dog, and do laundry. It is all normal, mundane things - but I have waited over 2 years to do them with him.

I got him to pull up the backyard planters. Ok, well he did one of them. They are big & a lot of work. We still have two to go. Maybe tomorrow. When we got the house, the backyard was SO overgrown and awful. Within a half hour, we realized that most of what we thought was a planter was actually cement that was connected to our porch! Go figure. We want the planters to be ready for Spring planting. It was really funny - Jonathon got into BDU pants and his boots to tackle the outside mission. He then switched to his Gortex rain gear to bathe the dog.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!!

Baby Bella

While our friends have baby fever, Jonathon and I are sticking to responsibilites of the four legged variety. (Which I'm not so sure is much easier)

Jonathon has waited for a dog ever since I met him. However, with deployments and apartment living it just didn't seem possible. Now that we have a house, I agreed to get a Bloodhound. Mind you - I completely gave in to this. I was perfectly fine with my cat. Bella came anyway.

Her first night home she didn't let me sleep. I have her crate downstairs, and I swear to you, she knew when my eyes closed because she'd start to freak out. I would then check on her, and she was totally fine. We went through that all night. When I say no sleep, I don't mean an hour or two - I mean none! I was so cranky.

My mom told me it's like having a baby - but here's the thing. I did the whole day care and nanny thing. I've never really had a dog, kids I can handle (not that I want to right now). Baby spit up and drool is NOTHING compared to Bloodhound slobber or the smell of a wet dog. I also want to say that I would rather change an explosive diaper then have my entire floor downstairs disgusting because of wet ears, drool, wet paws and food that "somehow" got way out of the bowl. I was mopping my floor at 5 am because she didn't want to wait for me to get the leash, she just relieved herself right on the dining room floor. You know how OCD I am about germs, so there I am disinfecting forever. She hasn't done it again.

Even so, I can't deny she's adorable...when she's sleeping not howling. :) I think Jon is going to love her. She has caught on quickly on how to properly take walks. She also knows that she has to have her harness on before she can get out of the kennel. I am surprised with how well she's done - it's taken so much work on my part, and hers, but I think she'll be ready for running when Jonathon is home. She seems to be pretty smart, and with her little puppy face I know she'll have Jon wrapped around her..um..paw. She freaks out around cars, but I'm thinking that's because at the breeder's house they just had a bunch of land to run around on - they weren't really taken into the street. She'll be a great addition to our little family.

She's 25 lbs already & she should be about 90-100 lbs fully grown. (I KNOW!) Here are some pictures.