We made it!

It may have been by the skin of our teeth, seconds before the planes were stopped for wind and snow. Or maybe it only seemed that way as we were leaving as the temperature dropped and the winds picked up. But after 12 hours on an airplane, no one getting to nap, and a 70 degree temperature shift, we all arrived in paradise on schedule.

Daddy was there to pick us up, and take us to our new home. I was a bit worried about the house, but quickly learned to have more faith in Daddy's ability to get something I'll like. We are all on one level, in a gated community, a block from the pool and shaded with Plumeria trees. I love that I can hear birds singing and kids playing outside, rather than the freeway which is close to many of the other housing communities available to us, and we are pretty central on the island.

It has been a few weeks, but we are getting settled. We are missing lots of old friends but excited for the possibilities that lay before us as we begin to make new friendships and discover the things that are going on out here in the middle of the ocean.

We arrived in the middle of the rainy season, so we've seen lots of monsoon type rain, with a few sun breaks, but I am having a hard time complaining when the East coast is buried under feet of snow and it's 80+ degrees here.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy and Blessed New Year!

The beginning...

We've begun the moving mayhem around here. Notice has been given, things are getting lined up for a very large, complicated move. Shipments going with different companies at different times to different places. It should be fun. Seriously.

Meanwhile, we are all trying not to die from whatever microbial organism that has decided to take up residence in my lungs. I'm not super happy about being kept up at night by an ugly green mucus monster. I've got two much cuter monsters who enjoy keeping me up nights without a third one moving into my body and making me sound like someone who has been smoking for 80 years.

Speaking of smoking -- it isn't fair. I smoked for a small period of time a long time ago, in a land far, far away. And I enjoyed smoking. Yes I did. It kept me skinny, because I was never hungry. Ah, nicotine. And while I didn't enjoy the residual smell, there was something in the initial scent of the cigarette first being lit that still gets me. If, somehow, I could have all of that without the stink that gets all over everything, and you know, the total destruction of your lungs, I'd probably think about smoking again. At least if I smoked, I'd have a reason to sound like I do.

In the meantime, I'm busy trying to de-clutter and organize our household. I'm trying to enjoy the last few weeks I have in New England, and the last few weeks I have with friends here (No thanks to the Mucinex Monster in my chest).

I hate this part of moving -- the organizing, the packing, the leaving, the un-doing of everything. I keep going with a smile on my face because I know in a few weeks a new adventure will start. In a short while I will be in the middle of my favorite part of moving -- the unpacking, organizing and setting up of our new household. I am trying to picture our new house, how our life will be when we get there. And that's what keeps me from curling up into a ball and hiding from all of the things that need to be done.

Old House New House

When we were in California we were in a new house. I mean, probably only a couple of years old, new. Here in Rhode Island, we are in an old house, as in, probably more than a couple of decades old. I knew we would be in an older house when we moved here, and I was willing to "put up" with the inconvenience since we are only here for a few short months. However, after being here a week, I am thoroughly happy with our "new" old home.

Our "Old" New house in California was wired for Internet throughout most of the house, was beautiful on the outside, and was fairly new. It had a fenced in backyard and a huge front yard. There were power receptacles everywhere and had a decent sized pantry. And here ends the list of things I miss about our "old" new home.

Our "New" old house in Rhode Island has closets. Big Closets. Larger Rooms for the children, free heat, a SCREEN door on both the front and the back door, new Berber carpet that looks amazing, brand new windows all over, open floor plan, laundry room that has a Door! That can be Shut! and tons of shelving. HOT! water, and and free utilities. Our house is all one story, so toys can stay in the kids bedrooms! We are also getting to keep some of our rent money -- enough to pay for an amazing preschool that Little Monster will attend next week. There are about 5 nicer chain eat-in restaurants within a mile or so, as well as a few different fast food chains. And the clincher -- we get real cable. Not some crappy satellite service that is going to nickel and dime us to death. No over priced, under-bandwidth "High" (but really Low) speed Internet. Our cable and Internet package here is cheaper than just the satellite in CA, and we get our phone for free. We also get high definition signal and FAST FAST FAST Internet!

These things don't make up for the fact that I couldn't transplant my bible study group and my huge circle of wonderful friends, but they do make day to day life just a bit easier!

Welcome Home!

It is a relief to finally be in our new home. We are now nestled into our cozy house on the East Coast. It is very temporary, as we should be returning to the west coast soon. It is amazing to live somewhere we've lived before. Things have changes a bit, but it's nice to know where the good grocery stores are, be familiar with the local chains, and at least have an idea about where I am when we move to a new home.

We spent ten days in the truck traveling across the country. Have you ever spent ten days in a truck with an 8 month old and a three year old? It makes for quite an adventure!

We stopped in Las Vegas to walk the strip, do some people watching and eat at one of the buffets. After that, the real trip began. Up early, and driving late, it still took us ten days. Between stops for restrooms (gotta love being just past potty training!), nursing breaks, and plain old sanity breaks made the days go by quickly.

Some highlights of the trip:

• Las Vegas, and Treasure Island show: "There will be no pillaging of this booty tonight boys!" A show not meant for kids.


• 10 rest areas between Monterey CA and the eastern AZ border. 2 were open.


• I-10 in El Paso, TX is so close to Mexico, that one of our iPhones decided to go ahead and join the Mexican Cellular network. It only costs about $20/mb to send and receive data.


• Three solid days of rain. Rain at night. Rain during the day. Rain. Rain. and more. RAIN!


• Trying to hit up every Cracker Barrel possible for those oh-so-good biscuits and southern comfort food.


• Flooding! Flooding! Flooding! As we were getting ready to leave Texas, the roads started to get a bit waterlogged. We found that they had closed the interstate minutes after we passed because it was covered in water.


• We experienced the most complicated interchange on I-10 in Houston, TX.


• Driving through the swamps of Louisiana was an experience. Have you ever driven down there? That is definitely a new experience. We were grateful to have passed through BEFORE the Superbowl AND Mardi Gras.


• Stopped in Northern VA in the snow and let Little Monster throw snowballs. His first time being old enough to play in it!

After all of those, we hit DC and Baltimore. Two days after they were hit with three feet of snow. Pulling the fifth wheel. Imagine if you will, the worst washboard road you can think of. Then multiply that by 1000. We had a hitch haul, carrying the generator and an air compressor on the back. Note, the word "had." As we pulled into Connecticut for the coldest night of our lives in the camper, we were very grateful that we had made it without incident. The hitch haul had cracked and broken, but had managed to hang on until we stopped for the night.

We could tell we were on the receiving end of many heartfelt prayers, because we didn't have any car trouble, and despite all of the adventure, we all managed to keep our sanity, and most of the time our sense of humor.

The snow in RI held off long enough for us to park our fifth wheel at its new home a few blocks away from our house, and the ABF trailer to arrive. But, the second we opened the trailer to unload, the snow came down. We got nearly a foot of snow while we were unloading, though we were lucky enough to have several neighbors come out to help.

As of right now, we are mostly moved in, and enjoying being on the east coast. The person who enjoys it the most? Probably our daughter who got her first taste of Dunkin donuts and a jelly filled munchkin:

It's coming!

I grew up in a small-ish town. A town where when you went out to shop or eat, you were likely to run into someone you knew. It was annoying sometimes, but usually it just makes you feel like you're home.

Each time we move, I wait for the place to feel like home. Our house usually feels like home pretty quickly. I am quick to unpack and arrange, slower to decorate, but we know that "home" is where the family is. It can be in an apartment, a detached home, or between duty stations, our fifth wheel.

To get the area to feel like home, often takes quite a bit longer. Often, I have to find out where we 'fit in' to the community. We need to get to know how to get around the area without consulting maps, find our favorite restaurants, shopping centers, etc. I love it when I finally find that sense of community -- when wherever we live becomes like that small town I grew up in. I am always amazed when I start running into people I know when we're out and about.

I do get a bit sad, though, at the same time. Each time a place has become home, every time I start finding friends at Target, the grocery store and the take-and-bake pizza place, it means our time at that location is drawing to a close. It happened in Virginia Beach, and it's now happening here. Twice in one week I've been out and run into people I know. Are we really that close to a PCS? Where did the time go? Didn't we just get here? No. The area just became home -- I know my way around and friends are everywhere. The time to move is fast approaching. And although I'm excited about a new coast, a new climate and a new home, I'm saddened to leave another area that has become home.

Excuses, excuses...

The past few weeks has been incredibly busy. Busy, I hate that excuse. People use it when you really aren't important enough to warrant a real excuse. Seriously, though, I have been really busy. We have spent the last twelve days unpacking, stacking, building, cleaning, scrubbing, organizing, folding, and trashing. We have the downstairs unpacked and everything is where it should be. Upstairs, the baby's room and bathroom are done. As for our bedroom, the guest bedroom and the office nook, that's a different story.

I would really like to have the guest bedroom completely done by OOH, Tuesday, but it isn't going to happen. We have to buy bookshelves. We moved out of a house that had a very large built in bookcase, and hence, we misplaced our shelves. They are most likely in the attic, and we forgot that we'd put them up there.. But at any rate, we are short some bookcases, and we have a lot of books to shelve. I also have decided that I very much dislike the furniture in the guest bedroom. I bought it second-hand for nothing, and now it's showing it. Sometimes furniture just doesn't do well through a move.

Our bedroom will be done when I feel motivated to finish it, and when Not the Momma dumps off the extra 21, 000 pairs of black socks, 21,000 pairs of white socks and 42,000 pairs of boxers. Mostly, it has to do with my motivation. You see, I like unpacking and arranging and finding places for things -- for a few days. But then, I lose interest. Call it Adult ADD, call it laziness, call it what you will. I get bored with unpacking. I am at that point. I have my new beautiful living room and dining room set up, the kitchen is put away (and there are tons of empty cupboards, because, well, there's more cabinet space here), and the baby's toy room is all together. As for the upstairs.. that's when I got bored.

And now it's time for me to quit giving excuses as to why I haven't been posting and why I'm lazy and tired of unpacking, organizing and cleaning. Why? Because Not the Momma took Little Monster upstairs to take a bath, in his fabulously wonderful ducky bathroom. Because even though Little Monster spent the greater portion of the evening whining, when he laughed when Mater was spinning around and running away from the combine in cars, I quit being irritated with him. Isn't it crazy, that kind of love? When you are irritated with someone to the extreme, then they do one silly thing and all the negative feelings melt away? I like it. :)

P.S. If you know my flickr account, I put pictures up there. If you don't, you can email me and I'll give it to you.. But I think there's a link over there --> somewhere.

It hasn't been nearly three weeks...

I say as I wave my hand in your face, using the Jedi Mind Trick to confuse you into believing that I have been posting all along...

Quick recap.

We lived in the fifth wheel for a couple of weeks at a great RV park. We were fortunate that we didn't pick an island spot, because the RV that was there instead of ours had a huge tree land on it in the middle of the "Central Coast Hurricane 2008." That's what I'm calling the 75mph winds and crazy rain that hit us. We are "moved" into our new house. Moved meaning that we and all of our stuff is in the house. Has it been upacked? No. Why? Because Not the Momma brought home a plague that has caused me to fear the 30 million stairs I have to take to get to the second floor. Seriously, there are 12 foot cielings in the first floor. We have spent another fortune, like we always do when we move, and still don't have internet that works reliably well enough for me to work, let alone be posting here. (I am only feeling slightly guilty right now, because the internet is fast enough for blogger, but not fast or reliable enough to be uploading 5megs worth of artwork). We signed up for better internet and it was supposed to have been connected about 3 hours ago, but alas, as is the luck of this clan, that somehow my name would be mispelled and probably the credit card we used denied the payment, and so, we still don't have internet. Bummer dude. (Note how I am already speaking like a california surfer chick after about 3 weeks in the area.) Hopefully we can get it all resolved tomorrow.

We have all been pretty sick with a chest cold, including Little Monster, but we are on the mend for now. I promise to have something that isn't so whiny in the future, and possibly even pictures of CA Hurricane damage and the new house. House pics may be a while though. I refuse to show you our stacks of boxes and piles of crap.

Moving Mayhem.

Tonight at 6:30PM I had the following telephone conversation:

Me: Hello?
caller: Hi I'm *name* from Moving Company B. I'm calling about the packing you have scheduled for tomorrow.
Me: No. I don't have packing scheduled for tomorrow, I have packing scheduled for Thursday. Who are you with again?
caller: Company B. We're calling on behalf of Company C.
Me: I do NOT have any idea who you are or who Company C is.
caller: I'm going to make a call and check into that.
*click*

Why is that a problem? We have a pack-out scheduled with Company A. I called Company A to let them know about the mystery telephone call from a company I'd never heard of calling for a company I'd never heard of. I have been dealing with Company A since we first filed paperwork. Company A is the company the military told me would contact me. They didn't know why Company B would call me, but they did know that they were a legit moving firm that often worked with the military. What is going on? I don't know. The military liaison at Company A is supposed to call me back "first thing in the morning." I am not sure if this is a scam, or what, but calling someone at 6:30 really sucks, because everyone else has gone home. There was no way I could call anyone to confirm anything if I wanted to. Even though the person I talked to at Company A did tell me that Company B does a lot of military moves, I'd never heard of them, they are not who the military told me would be handling the move, nor was the company they had mentioned. Two companies, neither of which I know anything about, neither of which I have heard of. Needless to say, I'm a bit on edge about the possibility that someone is going to come pack our stuff and relocate it... somewhere other than where its real destination should be. Not to mention the fact that they're coming in TWO days to pack and no one seems to know what anyone else is doing.

Want to know the next wonderful thing I found out? Even though I had a conversation with the gal at Company A two weeks ago about how it would only take one day to pack everything, and they were going to do that Thursday, we are scheduled to have a pack-out on Wednesday and Thursday. I am not ready for a pack out. I could be ready by Wednesday, but that's pushing it. Not to mention that I had to ask for someone to come help watch the baby so that I can properly supervise the pack/inventory that needs to go on. I don't have anyone to watch the baby Wednesday. It's about 30 degrees outside, so I can't even let him play in or around where we'll be packing in the garage. What a MESS! At least I don't have to re-pack most of this stuff myself.

Yes, when you are in the military, they pay for the movers to actually do the packing for you. After all, you move A LOT. --My husband and I have moved six times. We moved in together(we moved ourselves this time). Six months later stationed in RI. Six months later stationed in VA. Six months later, we bought a house (Another one we did ourselves). 2 1/2 years later, we packed everything we owned into a POD and the back of the truck and shipped me home to Nebraska. -- The packing is nice, but it isn't like you can just keep on living, and have them pack. You have to get everything ready. They won't actually unplug anything, they won't take hazardous chemicals, etc. for obvious reasons, etc. Silly things that you think would be fine, but sometimes can be a hassle. Then, you have to consider how long it will actually take to get your stuff back. In our case this time, we don't know exactly where we're going to live. We'll probably end up in housing, but maybe not. So, we have to have enough stuff to get us through the week between pack out and leaving here, the travel from here to California, and the weeks we'll spend running around Salinas arguing about why I don't want to live 30 miles away from where Not the Momma works, arguing about why it wouldn't be responsible to buy a foreclosure and renovate it waiting to get into housing. Then there's the wait for the people to get off their duffs and bring us our stuff. There's a ton of politics and rules involved in that whole mess too.



To top it off, while I was carrying a box -- our big Dell box -- I fell onto a cement anchor with two one-foot pieces of rebar sticking out of them in the garage. This is only one of the souvenirs from that. I am pretty much bruised or scratched from the hemline of an immodest mini-skirt down to my knees on both legs, and down to the sock line on my right leg. That pic is from my right back thigh... About 4 or 5 inches below my derriere. The "plus" looking sign in the midst of it? I'm assuming that's what it looks like when bone stops rebar. That is how far the rebar actually jammed into my leg. It's probably a good 3 or 4 inch diameter bruise. It hurts badly enough that I can't put pressure on it when I sit down. I must look pretty funny because when I sit I try to lean a bit to the right but any time I try to cross my legs I mash a bruise on my thigh or my shin. That usually leads to some fun noises and commentary. Hopefully the baby doesn't start copying those words.


As if the moving, and the bruises and all of that aren't stress enough? I just had to register both of our vehicles, I have a to-do list about two weeks long, and three days to get it done... AND Not the Momma is coming home. He'll be home sometime Saturday (only 4 1/2 more days! DID YOU HEAR ME 4 1/2 DAYS!). Hopefully. If everyone actually does their job which, well, let's just say I'd bet they'll hear me scream 7000 miles away if someone screws this up and he doesn't get home Saturday. I'm really excited about that, but there's a bit of anxiety involved with that too. We haven't actually lived together for over 18 months. The last time we lived together it was in our own home and I was pregnant.. only sort of showing at about 19 weeks. Things have changed a bit, and that reunion, while it will be wonderful, is also a bit scary too... But that's a post for another day. Oh, did I tell you that I'll be kissing Not the Momma in 4 1/2 days? I'm not excited. Not at all. I just will be hugging and seeing and talking to Not the Momma in person in 4 1/2 days. And he'll be home for a little over two years... in 4 1/2 days.

Indeed, it has come to this.

This, being that I have found so many fun and interesting blogs to read, that my favorite links are overwhelming. I wish I had the time, money and drive to buy my own domain. Then, I could have my own link page. That would be nice. I guess I could link to my old angelfire page or something! But then, I would have to learn HTML all over again. Wait a second. I'm getting confused, so I'm sure you are. But then again, it could be the wine. Let me start over.


It has come to this: I have so many sites I love to visit (I'm sorry I haven't updated my blogroll in my sidebar lately... It's a lot of work) that I have decided to use... a reader. Google has made it easy, though, and though it doesn't always work the way I would like it, it works often enough for me to think it's freakin' awesome! How many nights have I spent clicking down my list of sites, only to find that the author hasn't posted for the day. It's kinda like TiVo for blogs. I don't have to waste time clicking through if there hasn't been a post, or watch commercials. I know, I'm behind the times here. Hopefully (and this is sort of a test) I've gotten the whole thing figured out enough that I can have my blog fed right into BlogHer, so I don't have to go in and post there too.

I used to be opposed to readers, because, as a blogger, I like to know who is reading my site. I do collect stats for my site, so I can kind of guess who is reading, etc. Especially important considering what Not the Momma does for a living. That, and it sort of skews your stats. My poor friends (you won't wonder anymore) are probably wondering where I've been the past two days, because I haven't "acutally" visited your sites. (Don't worry, I'm still reading!) The best thing is that because I'm not clicking through so many sites only to be disappointed that other people have lives outside of the internet and the warm glow of their computer monitor that they haven't updated their site yet. (Nope, not now either. Still haven't. ) I love that all this free time means I have time to comment when my friends post, because I don't have to wonder if this blog or that blog has a new post. It means I can share that much more love. But I'm the kind of freak that is just going to end up adding a bazillion more blogs to my reader, putting me into the same situation I just got out of.

It's a serious addiction, these blogs. I have no idea what I am going to do in two weeks, when we head for the wild and untamed west. I won't have internet access --I actually had to stop typing just then to mourn the loss of all of that instant gratification -- at least not consistent, reliable internet for a while. I am still trying to convince Not the Momma that we can't go back to dial-up. That's crazy, right? I mean dial-up? Do people still use dial up? I'm totally blaming the need for high-speed internet on the design work I do from home. I can't very well email those photoshop files with dial-up. yuck! This addiction, though, it's serious. Really serious. I get all antsy when I don't know what Chuck and Leta and Heather and Jon are up to. I mean, how can I get through the day, when I don't know what funny things have been piled on that dog's head? But it's much much worse than that. I have given up...(I'm ashamed to say it) Grey's Anatomy. Well, not given up, but just kind of.. forgotten to watch it. It has a teeny bit to do with the loss of Isaiah Washington, and a LOT to do with the introduction of Brooke Smith as Dr. Hahn. Not that I don't like Brooke Smith, more that I don't like Dr. Hahn yet. I wonder if it is something subconsious, having to do with the fact that she was Catherine Martin, the girl trapped in the pit of Buffalo Bill's house.



At any rate, two major changes for me in the past few months and many, many many more to follow.

Peaceful Praries and new homes...

This weekend we visited Rock Creek Station, south of Fairbury Nebraska. This is a great place to go and try to get a picture of what the pioneers saw. There are walking paths through the prairie and replicas of the area settlement, including a toll bridge. This is one of the places in our country where you can still see the trail ruts carved into the ground by wagon trains that followed the Oregon Trail.


As we were walking with the baby and the dogs through the prarie in the 50 mph winds, I realized how lucky I am to have air conditioning, comfortable shoes and a bed that isn't made of rope and straw. The wind was absolutely insane. I kept trying to picture what the world would have looked like 200 years ago when nothing had touched the land. I'm guessing that much of what I saw would have looked the same. It was a fun trip. We tested out our new house:


This past week has been hectic as I have been trying to deal with the purchase of our new "

house." At least until we get into a house when we move to California. We had a lot of fun testing the new place out. There's plenty of room for baby, and we can even stick to a schedule. Our only snag this weekend was when I was a bit sore from not being "milked" for nearly a week, and the baby was VERY frustrated because he'd fallen asleep and we had to wake him up. So, being the weak, soft-hearted mother that I am.. I gave in and let him have a bit. Just a teeny bit. It helped to relieve my pressure and he immediately relaxed. Did I compeltely traumatize him? I hope not!! Since then, the pressure has been bearable. Oh well.. This post is terrible, and I apologize. I'm very tired and just wanted to put something out there. :) (oh and WHAT IN THE WORLD was up with the wind today?)

I might have more to say after I watch the movie "The Man Who Sued God." :)

It hit me...

Today it hit me how little time we have left here in Nebraska. There are three and a half months left. One of those is gone, because we'll be visiting Daddy. We'll visit my Grandfather for another week, Then we'll actually leave sometime in Mid-December if things work out the way they are supposed to. So, that brings us down to about two months. Split up. In those two months I have a lot to do. I am pretty overwhelmed when I think of all the work I have laid out for me. I have to separate my kitchen gadgets from my mother's, go through several boxes and pitch stuff I don't need, get the car ready to be transported, figure out WHERE the baby is going to sleep after the movers come. Hopefully that won't be until December? I also have to plan and throw a birthday party for the baby, travel to the other side of the world toting the one year old, look for and possibly purchase a fifth wheel camper, have a hitch installed in the truck for said camper, load and prepare camper for the trip across the country. I also REALLY want to spend some time with friends and family in the little bit of time that I have left. Leaving this time will be bittersweet. I have loved being here. The baby loves his grandparents. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with friends. That being said, I absolutely cannot wait to be in California. With my husband. And my baby. In our own house. together.

Ready to Go!!

Soooo sorry it has taken me the entire summer to update this page.. I have been really busy this summer... Here is a recap.:

June, I moved to Nebraska to live with my folks because my husband, his parents and my parents teamed up and told me I had to because he was going to be gone for well over a year, minus a few weeks to visit over the holidays and I am pregnant. (Due Oct 24 ). We spent every weekend at the lake, playing and camping and having a good time. I got settled in, we moved everything into my storage space, and I got my room finished and started working on the Nursery.

July, Gretchen came to visit from Australia which was an absolute blast. The baby got to hear his first fireworks (which I am not sure if he liked or not). He bounced around in there almost like he was having a siezure. If he is deaf or very skittish I will be blaming it on sitting at Oak Lake watching them. I got hit on by some high guy downtown using the line.. ."that's a nice top, and your shirt is nice too." To which I responded.. "Yah? The top is new.. It goes with the bottom." When I moved my purse and it became obvious that I was pregnant.. It still took me a while to convince him that I was happily married and planned on staying that way. July was also the Cornhusker State Games. Waterskiing was involved for the first time this year. I announced the event. It was fun, even if it did feel like the gates of hell had opened up on Nebraska. It was well over 100. At one point I took a break, even though there were still people skiing, to swim because I was dying.. and someone had the audacity to complain about it.. It's okay.. They complained to my mom who told them to shove it.. Only in a nice way. :)

August was more waterskiing, camping at the lake and fun stuff. Jim skiied at Regionals this year, and got 2nd place Overall and 4th Place in Jump. That is awesome! Regionals was quite the ordeal, they had relegated all of the people with RVs to the far end of the lake, where there was no access to the activities without walking a mile around the lake, and they were pretty downright rude to most of us.. But that was okay, because we all made friends because of it. Mom's birthday was a pretty scary day for all of us... Jim came home from Menards one day, and said he'd had to stop by the side of the road to "catch his breath." He did walk, but it is less than a mile to Menards, and he shouldn't need to stop for that short walk. Anyways, we told some people at the next waterski tournament because we had been harrassing him to go to the doctor for weeks.. They told him they weren't going to ski with him until he went.. So he scheduled an appointment and they sent him to the hospital with an aspirin. They wanted to send him by ambulance. At the hospital, they determined they needed to do an angiogram to see what was going on in his heart... They scheduled it for two days later... Mom's Bday was the day before the angiogram.. We went out to dinner and it was great, except my Mom didn't get her dinner and then I made the waitress feel bad because I told her it was Mom's Bday... The next day was the angiogram. The doctor wasn't sure if they'd be able to fix his 90% blockage with angioplasty or if they would have to do open heart surgery, but there had been no heart damage, so he hadn't had too many mini-heart attacks.. They were able to fix it with 3 stents, but things were pretty scary around here for a while.. When I was at the hospital, nearly every nurse I saw thought I was there to deliver, and the only OB doctor I saw thought the same thing.. so I must have been getting 'large.'

September has been a good month.. I am still pregnant, as I should be but many of my friends who are due near my date have had their babies already. The nursery is finally complete, and really the only thing I need to add to it is a baby!! I will be 37 weeks in a couple of days, so he is allowed to come at any time.. I have decided that he needs to wait until after my birthday, but that's it.. I got some professional pictures taken while I was pregnant.. I really like the photographer.. She has a package where she'll come to the hospital and take pictures and then a week later she'll come to you or you go to her, and take some nice pictures as well.. I begged to switch the hospital session for one with my husband when he comes home. It will be our chance to get a couple of nice family portraits taken.. and some good cute artsy fartsy ones done of the three of us too if we want to..
http://www.angeliccreationsphotography.com/Mary/index.htm
These are untouched up, but I like quite a few of them... At any rate, I am ready for this little bundle to make his escape plans... I would really like him to come sometime mid-October.. Even though I panic everytime I think about being a parent.. An actual parent... That is crazy.. Some of the things that you go through are insane when you are pregnant.. I am finally used to the fact that I am pregnant, and I finally got over my body changing (my girls have swollen to about 3 times their normal size, and my tummy, well, if you saw the pictures, you saw the gi-normosity of it) and don't care much about the weight that I am, considering it is one I thought I would NEVER see on a scale that I was standing on by myself... And now that is all going to go away and I'll have a whole new set of things to get used to...

I hope to be on here more posting things a bit more often.. :)

New Nebraska Life

I'm officially, well, I have been for a while, but NOW I'm officially living in Nebraska again. My husband is in the Navy, and of course, he has to be gone for the birth of our child, who is due in October, so he and my mom teamed up and made me move back here. It's been fine, except for the lack of beaches and free concerts (which I probably wouldn't have gone to many this year anyways). I will be getting this site up and running since it is easier to work on than my old Angelfire site!