Half Woman, Half Beachball

Well, 38 weeks today. And yes, I'm aware that I look like I've swallowed a watermelon, or a basketball, or something around that size. Of course this is the normal appearance for this stage of pregnancy. But even with that reassurance, I do not feel any "cuter" per say. There are many things that they do not tell you about pregnancy. And in my opinion, I could totally teach the most effective sex education class to date. I could single handedly bring the teen pregnancy rate down by a significant percentage with the stories I have to share. I think they don't tell you this stuff, because they are scared that the population growth would come to a screeching hault. Understandably though, after knowing what I know.

Two pink lines, a + sign, "pregnant." Any of these on that disgusting little stick drenched in pee means you are about to start the most uncomfortable, gross 9 months of your life to date. The fact that you have to pee on a stick should be your first clue that maybe the rest of this process is not going to be so attractive. Anyways, jump for joy mama because you won't be jumping much longer. Spend the next week eating anything and everything that you've ever been fond of. Because in one week you won't be able... UH OH! Scratch that one week estimation. You are praising the ceramic throne right about now. Your hubby brings you water, and your copy of "What to expect when your expecting" per your request, because you are SURE you should not be feeling this sick. Relief is absent among the pages. You find out that morning sickness is anything but MORNING sickness, it lasts all day and sometimes all night as well. People tell you, your second trimester will be soooo much better. Well, the 13th week comes and goes... So does your hope for relief. Just when your about to give up, the sun comes up on a new day and you feel like going for a walk. For the first time in a long time, your starting to feel normal, you're going out and doing things, people are telling you how adorable your "baby bump" is. You quite frankly, feel great, compared to your last three months. Yay! pregnancy is sort of fun. Call your sister, tell her you'll meet her to go shopping at 9 tomorrow morning. You wake up, the clock says 8:01. Wait thats backwards! It says 1:08! that CAN'T be right. Waddle to the next room.. that clock says it too! "How could I have slept that long?" you wonder. Your phone says 14 missed calls. Some from each member of your family, they've all thought something was wrong when you didn't show up for your shopping excursion. You are mad! You just want everyone to leave you alone. You post a message online saying to everyone to BUTT OUT! Wait, why are you mad? They are just worried right? Ah, its your third trimester is saying hello. You go back to bed and wake up just in time to eat a full pint of Ben & Jerry's and watch America's Next Top Model. But, you only stay in front of the tv long enough to finish the pint. Because models make you want to put your hands around their 110 pound necks and squeeze til the single carrot they had for lunch comes out. Your husband's home. You are angry with him already. All you want to do is take a bath and lay down for the night, and he wants to take you to dinner. You win. He gets take out for dinner. OWWWW! Who punched me in the gut? OW OW OW! I'm pregnant, why is aunt flo cramping in your stomach? Oh, wait, refer to your "what to expect"... its just Braxton Hicks.. completely normal part of hell. Relax, take it easy, the doctors say. But don't forget that staying active will make you more comfortable during labor. Really? He wants you to walk a mile every night? How about HE get out here and hold a bowling ball between HIS legs and walk on a bumpy sidewalk, on feet that are swollen to twice their size. Not to mention the 230940403598 hundred people that ask you "Oh hunnie, you're huge! You've gone over your due date? Why don't you get induced?" No, ignorant person, I have NOT in fact gone over my due date.. I am just normally this huge, and thank you for reminding me. Finally, you've made it to 38 weeks, you're almost there they say.. that baby can come any day.. Sorry, but any day is NOT good enough for me unless "any" is today. Refering back to kindergarten.. I don't remember learning an "ANYday" between MONday and FRIday.

To be continued... When ANYday finally comes.

Fun day Sunday

Only slept til 11am today! haha. I'm just telling myself that these next couple weeks will be the last that I get to sleep that long for quite a while. So indulge while you can right? After a much needed shower and a poptart for breakfast, I found myself wanting to paint my bathroom. Yes, I said paint my bathroom. So I said to myself "woah, woah, woah, just wait a minute.." Obviously that is the most random thing my brain has brought to my attention in quite a while. And then *CLICK* the light bulb came on. I am getting the oh so lovely gift of pregnancy's nesting instinct. Obviously I did not paint the bathroom. But I did get some cleaning done and laundry folded. That was enough to satisfy my newfound urge. Speaking of this nesting, why do you think it comes right BEFORE baby gets here? I mean I understand the concept, helps you get last minute things ready and blah blah blah. But don't all you mothers agree that the burst of energy that comes with the nesting is much more needed right AFTER baby gets here? I could be wrong, as I'm not a mother yet. But I'll be sure to let you all know in a couple weeks.

I was supposed to attend my Responsible Driver's Course today. After my wreck in July I was offered the option to take this course in return for no points added to my license. Of course I took the opportunity. Anyways, the class was cancelled and is rescheduled for a Sunday a couple weeks from now. Avery and I made the most of my free time tonight and headed out for a girls dinner, just the two of us. We've developed a system taking turns picking restaurants when she and I go out to eat. Tonight was her night to pick, and she chose Chinese Grand Buffet. She just likes it for the Jello! But thats okay, it sounded good to me too. We had a wonderful dinner and I realized how much I'm going to miss her during the day when she goes to school starting Tuesday. She makes me laugh so easily. One hug from her can make my smile reappear when I think its gone away forever. Goodness, that little girl is such a blessing. I don't have the words to explain how she's impacted my life. I can only hope that I can show her the same support/love she's shown me these past five years. And even though I will probably live far away for most of her life, I vow to do my best to be the same big sister she knows now. I pinky promise ;)

Jeff and I were only able to talk for about 15 minutes total today. The reception was going in and out, we had to reconnect 4 times just to get that much time out of it. He recieved two of my care packages today. One from nearly a month ago, and one from about a week ago. On duty when he recieved them, he had just enough time to take them to his bunk and breifly look through the contents. He said that it looked like everything made it there okay. The bottle of bath and body works lotion (per request from him cause it smells like me) that I sent exploded. But luckily he has a pretty intellegent wife that knew this might happen and sealed it up in a plastic bag :P Other than that he didn't really say much, since we didn't have much time to talk anyways. We both always say how excited we are for r&r and how we can't wait and all that. I told him that he sounded stuffed up, like he had a cold. He said that its because of all the dust where he is. And that the guys are all complaining that he's snoring at night. Poor guy.

New photo album on my profile for all of you facebook-ers. Its called "Blast from the Past" and thats exactly what it is. There's about 30 photos of friends, family, and myself throughout the years. Some are pretty humorous as I forgot how different we all looked just 5 years ago. How different things were 5 years ago. Change is for the better though, always. Even if its unexpected and unwanted, in the end its for the better and allows you to grow as a person in ways you didn't think you could. I'm happy with how my life is so far, that's for sure. But I can't say that I expected any of it fully. Come what may.. I'll be ready.

Love to all!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Hi all, if you are reading this, you have been invited to keep up with our little family by reading these updates. After posting updates on facebook for a while, I realized that not everyone that is important to us, has a facebook profile. I was constantly trying to make sure I copied and pasted the updates and emailed them to everyone. Ah! too much!. So I've decided to just make a blog that everyone can see regardless of a facebook or myspace profile. So save this page in your favorites! Cause this is where all the info will be from now on. Also I will post pictures from time to time. Probably LOTS of pictures, as I take tons of them. Especially when baby Jack gets here. He's going to know how to smile on cue before he even knows what its for! :)

As far as baby Jack and I, we have exactly 2 weeks and 6 days left on this eventful journey we call pregnancy. Official due date still being September 23rd. We are both doing pretty good. I am having some issues with my asthma. I caught a cold that quickly turned into bronchitis and landed me in the ER for a night after an asthma attack. But my doctors have gotten that under control with some new meds and they seem to be doing the job. Jack is very obviously getting pretty squished in his home of 8 1/2 months. He seems to get so frustrated sometimes and tried to stretch in every direction he can. Heartburn has returned for me in the past couple weeks, on account of there being virtually no room for my stomach. But all this is managable and very well worth it! We will continue to take it easy until he decides to make his debut!

Jeff is doing very well. Its been a while since I've updated on him, so bear with me while I try to remember what you know and don't know. He is BORED! He says this every time I talk to him. Which of course I have no problem with, but of course he says its getting rather mundane. He is still doing 18 hour shift duties like he has been for quite a while now. He says it is a lot but it helps make the days go by faster. I recently recieved a general update from one of Jeff's higher ups. They send these to us pretty regularly if they can so that we have some idea of what its like there. He says that life is improving every day at the FOB where they are stationed. the MWR internet service was installed recently and is up and working. However, there are only 5 computers. And that is a major differnece in ratio to the number of people wanting to use them. But, at least they are availiable. The Armed Forces Network gear arrived recently as well, and the soldiers are all pretty excited to get some tv and (hopefully) get to catch some of this season's football games. The problem is, that none of them know how to install the equipment! So they are working on getting the right people there to do that soon, hopefully before the first week of the NFL season of course! They guys are all still living in tents currently, but are waiting and watching (very impatiently I presume) as the contractors get closer and to finishing the re-locatable billets. The DFAC (cafeteria) is also still under construction. Many of the soldiers are starting to wonder if it will ever be finished. From what I hear they recently have been serving lots of burritos and enchiladas. They've even started to count consecutive days. CPT I recieved the email from says his count is at 15 days in a row currently. The mail service is still slow but has improved greatly. So again, I REALLY encourage you to send letters! Its constant reminder for Jeff that we're thinking about him here. If you need the address again, don't hesitate to ask!

All and all, our family's life is pretty good right now. The thing we are most looking forward to is that Jeff SHOULD BE coming home for r&r (two weeks of leave) towards the end of this month. Obviously I cannot post exact dates, but things are looking up that Jack will get to meet his mommy AND daddy at the same time. Which is great! Now, this is all assuming that Jack waits til he's supposed to come, so we'll see. Regardless we could not be more thankful that the army is giving him this time to spend with us. I'm also looking forward to starting my college classes at the end of October. I'm taking classes through Coastline Community College online. In two years, if all goes as planned, I will have an AA in general studies emphasis in science and math. I chose to do this and get my generals out of the way first since I still don't have a clue what I want for a career. The best part is that I recieved a 6000 dollar grant through the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account Program, so I will be paying close to nothing for my first two years of school.

As you can see, things are looking really good for all three of us right now. We are so thankful to God for what he's blessed us with. I hope that everyone will follow this blog, and feel free to make comments as well!
We love you all!