Lessons in Footprints

First a quick baby update - Brian and I went to the doctor on Wednesday. It was about a 5 minute visit, I've gained 4 lbs and numerous stretchmarks, and we heard the heartbeat.

Last night brought with it about 1/2 inch of fluffy snow, and since it wasn't that cold (upper 20's) Brian and I put on our sweatshirts and walked down to the video store. We were the first people to walk through the snow so there were only our footprints, and about 1/2 way to the video store I started walking inside Brian's steps. Of course he, being the buttmunch he can be, started hoping and taking huge steps etc. lol, but I just continued stepping into his footprints even though I didn't hop on one foot like he did :) On our way back from the video store I led the way, but still stepped in each of the footprints we had already made (yes I know I'm goofy, Brian made me very well aware of that - while he stepped in them too!) When we got home I told Brian that the footprints were kind of like marriage, technically Brian is the leader of the household, but it's my choice to follow, and the more we stepped in the footsteps the harder it was to see whose footprint it was, making it "our" own distinct footprint. He laughed and called me a goofball, then said that I was going to be a good teacher since I can think so conceptually.

I have found an apartment in Wichita Falls which will be near to Brian, but I haven't been able to locate a health care provider, specifically a midwife. I hope that before I move I will find someone I am comfortable with, and someone who will see birth as a natural process ordained by God instead of a medical condition, I really hate it when my doctor refers to it in such a way, it's a baby not a tumor.

I thought this was over?

From what I gathered I thought once the second trimester started I would be finished with the nasuea....not so. I had a lovely little break of it, but today marks day 6 of having it again.

I'm 16 weeks along, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and Brian has a check in with his recruiter. Brian is going with me to the doctor - since he won't be here for the ultrasound I want him to at least hear the heartbeat. I'm praying that if it's more then one the heartbeat will not be in sync tomorrow so that I can find out now instead of next month.

Word is spreading that I will be moving...why people thought I was going to live here while Brian spent his life in the AirForce is beyond me. I keep getting statements like "That will be such a hard life, you living here and him being gone!" they seemed suprised that I would move to be with him - it's a dance studio not a gold mine....and even if it was...Brian > money DUH.

Last night I made lasagna - which was interesting because I have never made it, and I rarely use recipes, and this time was no exception. In any case it turned out really good - I added vegetables to meet the daily intake I'm supposed to have - how do they expect pregnant women to eat so much? Anyway - it's not the lasagna that's interesting it is the husband. We went to the store to get the pasta for it and HE picked out whole grain pasta and I picked up the cheap stuff, but he argued his point and we bought the slightly more pricey whole grain - since we have gotten married I think I may have rubbed off on him a lot more then I thought lol.

Well I have been promising to make Brian italian bread - so I am going to take a nap and get to it! I hope everyone has a great week!

Pictures and a quest to figure out who sent us something

Thats My beautiful Wife

Thats me and my big goose down jacket

Thats us on our couch




and this is actualy the thing we are trying to figure out. It was sent to us from a gina jenkins but we don't know who that is or if we should know who it is so we're trying to find out who sent it to us. and if there is any other type of information on it we'd like to know that too.

The Great Debate

Holy cow children require much to much thinking sometimes - and it's not even HERE yet! With Brian leaving the much wanted and much needed "talk time" is quickly fading away. I want him to be a part of the pregnancy and the beginnings of the baby's life (obviously) but the fact that he leaves in one month puts a small damper on that. He has agreed to go to the doctor with me next week so he can hear the heartbeat though so yaye for that.

Anyway, on my spare time I have been researching everything from doctors to diapers and there is just one too many "passionate" people out there to truley be able to sort through the facts. I think we may use mainly cloth diapers, because I have allergies to bleach, as does my mother. I am leaning towards "old fashion" toys partly because they foster self entertainment and self learning, but mostly because of the climbing rate of recalls due to lead paint. I currently have a doctor but I will soon be seeing a midwife as well, even though some family members really don't want that. So to put some fears to rest I am going to both the doctor and midwife, but Brian and I are leaning towards a birthing center over a hospital, and the birthing centers we have been looking at are within 1 mile (sometimes across the street) from a hospital.

I'm still having backaches....almost constantly, which is going to be annoying if they plan to continue until August. A cool thing - I felt the baby move, or poke, or kick, or whatever you want to call it, so that kinda makes up for the backaches. I have a feeling that soon there will be backaches and a dancing baby put together, which may equal no sleep :)

So there is a random baby update. Please keep Brian and I in your prayers as we continue to prepare for the baby, pray that we will be guided by God, and that the decisions we make will be within His will.

For those who might have questions and comments

I'm writting this Blog to help those who might have questions and comments about us be able to do so. We like to get comments so feel free to do so whenever.
The rest of this is to instruct those who are unsure about how to comment.


(figure 1) Click on the picture to enlarge it.
The Blue Arrow Points to the Comments Link. Click it to navigate to the comments page. (figure 2)
The Red Arrow Points to the Email Link. Click it to navigate to the email page. (figure 3)


(figure 2) click to enlarge
This is the Comments page. This is the page where you can leave comments and questions about a certain blog post. All you have to do is write out your comment then right below the comment box is a box that asks you to type the letters in the picture and then you can click on the radio where it says Name/URL Pointed out by the Green Arrow. After you enter your name click the orange publish your comment button and your comment will be posted. I will receive an email telling me about your comment and i will read it.


(figure 3) Click on the picture to enlarge it.
This is the email page. You can use this page if you liked a certain blog post and then you can email the post to a friend and then they can read it.

My View on Valentine's Day

Well Brian thinks I need to write a blog on Valentine's Day because I can explain it better, so here it goes. Yesterday we woke up to snow blowing all over and a fresh coat of about 2 1/2 inches of powder. After braving the cold we got the studio all warmed up and I taught Zumba and Brian worked on the studio bills. When we got home I retired to my "bed" as I usually do with a massive backache. If you haven't read Brian's blog yet, I have been sleeping on the couch for the past couple weeks because the couch is more supportive then my bed. Brian had been wanting breakfast burritos for a couple days so he decided to make me "breakfast in bed" since I had never had breakfast burritos it was an interesting breakfast, but Brian proved he can cook and the burritos were pretty good.
I usually teach Thursday nights but all my students cancelled due to Valentine's Day plans so I decided to priceline a hotel and go to the Twin Cities with Brian to a Air Force meeting thing. The meeting was good, his recruiter answered some questions for us after the meeting since Brian is the only recruit that is married. He also did his 30 day check in, I can't believe he will be gone so soon! After the meeting we went to our hotel, a small yet 4 star place, that I got a deal on at $50 for the night :)
For dinner Brian said I could pick whatever I wanted, and since he usually isn't open to new things I totally jumped at the chance to get some culture. While in Phoenix I used to eat at all kinds of places, and I really liked Greek food, and since we have moved away from the city I've missed the culture and things to do. In any case I decided we should try a resturant called Mediteranian Cruise Cafe, it had a variety of food from Greek to Egyptian so I figured Brian would find something on the menu that wouldn't freak him out too much and I could have some of the more "exotic" food that I really loved. The place exceeded any expectations I had of it, the food was amazing, we had a Valentine's Day special, which was a TON of food, but a good variety so Brian and I could try a bunch of different things. Appetizers included hummus, gyros, pita bread, and flaming cheese, which we had without flame because the flame came from alchohol and alot of other dishes were flaming as well, and while you can cook the alchohol out of a dish sometimes when you burn it off it can creep under the dish and I didn't want to have that happen, especially with more then one dish, so we did everything without alchohol. Afterappetizers Brian had no problem trying everything they put in front of us, and everything was amazing, we had lamb, chicken, and shrimp and the most AMAZING rice. He even liked the shrimp and he hates shrimp!
As with most Greek places there was belly dancing which of course I absolutley loved, the dancer was fantastic. It was nice to see a dancer above a size 3, one who was talented and didn't just get the job because she looks cute in the costume. Don't get me wrong, she was absolutley beautiful, and looked amazing, but beyond that she was an awesome performer and she was extremly talented. Later we found out she studied in Egypt for a period of time, no wonder she was good! After a few songs she pulled up a couple people, one at a time and taught them a few moves, and after a while she tried to get me to go up for a lesson, Brian was all for it so I went up there. When I stood up she noticed I was pregnant and told me to be careful and so I told her I had been belly dancing and that I taught it, she was excited about that so instead of a lesson the two of us just danced together, it was so much fun as I haven't really been able to belly dance in a LONG time. At the end of the song we laughed about how I had stumbled and her nose was running from getting a cold and exchanged a few of the normal dancer conversation, she helped me off the platform, and I sat down to finish our dinner. After dinner I gave the waitress a tip for the dancer, and she came over and we talked for a little while, I found out her real name is Leslie, she gave me her card and said I should join the local guild and start coming to the performances and getting back into it since I was really good. That made me feel pretty happy, that as a pregnant woman I still looked good when I belly danced. We said goodbye, and took our 3 BOXES of leftover food and headed back to the hotel.
So it was an amazing day, I've been single every Valentine's Day so this was the first time I've ever done anything special, furthermore Brian is leaving soon and we won't be able to be together for who knows how long. This morning he told me he did such a good job for Valentine's Day that I can't give him anymore grief about him text messaging his proposal to me! :)

Valentines day

it was a good day today. first we woke up and went to merediths zumba class. then we came back home and i made breakfast burritos which we ate on the couch. and since meredith has been pregnant we've been sleeping on the couch because thats where she's most comfortable. so technically we had breakfast in bed. anyway i had to go to the twin cities to meet my recruiter for a monthly check up thing so we decided to go on a date. we ended up going to a place called Mediteranean Cruise Cafe and the food was amazing. plus there was belly dancing which intrigued meredith to no end as she belly dances herself. then a few songs in the dancer asked meredith to go on stage with her and i encouraged her to go up so she did. they danced a song together and did a really good job. meredith had a lot of fun and was really excited afterwards. so in my book this was an amazing valentines day the best i've ever had and i'm seriously doubting that i'll ever be able to do anything like it again. meredith will have to post and tell it from her perspective because i think she could do a better job.
Brian

So thats obviously not what God wanted me to have.

Yesterday(tuesday) the recruiter called me and informed me about a job that could possibly get me shipped out next tuesday working on water utility systems. This job woudl have shipped me out early and would also have a shorter tech school getting me stationed in early June. And after a few minutes of talking to meredith we decided to see where God wanted us. The plan was I was going to call the recruiter back and tell him to put me on the back up list and then we would wait and see what God would choose for us. God chose that i shoudln't get the Job and so obviously that is not where he wants me to be. So from here i will see if anything else comes our way or if the avionics job is the one for me.

a correction to a previous blog

I just called my recruiter today and asked him what day i supposed to ship out because i wasn't sure he said i ship out march 18th which is good news because i don't have to wait so long. but please pray that i can still find something to help for the next six weeks.