New year, new adventures!

New year, new adventures!

I’ve done a poor job of keeping up with this blog!

Well I guess I should start with a summary of what happened the last few months of 2013.

Last blog I mentioned that we were going to AK.  We flew to AK in September for Brandon and Audra’s wedding.  It was a blink and you missed it trip, arrived on Friday and left on Monday.  However, the time there was great.  The wedding was outside and very nice.  On the way back to Anchorage from the wedding Patrick made a bunch of stops so I could take pictures.  If I thought Alaska was pretty with snow in April, it’s GORGEOUS in September!  We went to Portage Lake (my favorite place), Girdwood and this trip I got to see a black bear!  I took some pretty amazing photos if I do say so myself.

When we came back I quit my job at the center.  It was not the right job for me.  I got a job as a tutor at Sylvan Learning Center and love it.  I work 3-5 days a week, 2 hours a day.  Pretty sweet job.

Another short trip was the one back home in October for my god sister’s baby shower.  I went back to Pemberton and saw my coworkers and some of my students.  The baby shower was great.  Everyone was determined that Denise was going to have a boy but in December she surprised us all and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!

The biggest news of October was Patrick and I finding out we were expecting!  Very excited and surprised!  Can I just put it out there that the term ‘morning sickness’ is a bunch of crap.  I was nauseous every day, all day of my first trimester. Second trimester was better as I entered the ‘honeymoon’ phase.  I am currently in my third trimester and have two more months to go.  In December, we found out we are having a little girl.  Getting to hear her heartbeat and see her in the sonogram was surreal.

I received the best gift a few days before my birthday when I felt baby girl move for the first time.  It started off as little flutters but as she gets bigger the movements are bigger and stronger.  I love that Patrick gets to experience her movements as well both by putting his hand on my belly and just by looking at my belly.

On a side note, in addition to reading the traditional pregnancy books and blogs, I’ve been reading about pets during pregnancy and how to prepare them for baby.  I’ve tried a few things out so far with a baby doll.  While we were back for my shower, I held my god daughter a lot while Patrick held Duke so he got to see me holding an actual baby.  I have to say, pets truly do sense things.  Duke has always been a sweety pie but he has been my constant companion during this pregnancy.  He follows me wherever I go and he was my cuddle buddy during the first trimester when I spent pretty much all day on the couch.  Ozzy’s behavior started to change during my second trimester.  He’d come when called and hang out on the couch with us.  He even started sleeping at the foot of the bed.  The last few weeks he is even sweeter and friendlier.  Now he comes and hangs out on the couch with us on a daily basis and at night he tries to snuggle right up next to me instead of at my feet.  I’m still nervous as to how they will react when we bring baby girl home but I’m confident it won’t be a difficult transition.

Well the title of this post is new year, new adventures.  The most obvious new adventure is the fact that Patrick and I are becoming parents.  But that’s not the only adventure.  A few weeks after baby girl gets here, we are moving!  Yes, you read correctly, we are moving again!  Patrick made MK2 at the beginning of the year (so proud of him), which is why we are moving.  He will be filling an MK2 billet in Buchanan, TN.  We are looking at places to live in both TN and KY.

Expecting a baby during transfer season is overwhelming to say the least!  But I’m making lists and planning what I can.  Mom will be coming down before my due date and staying to help with the move.  As stressful as this all is, I’m actually excited for the move.  The areas we are looking to live are only about an hour from my dad’s side of the family in KY and we will only be a 12 hour drive to Maryland versus 24.  The beginning of this month we drove back home for my baby shower and on the way back we drove through the areas we are looking to live in and checked out Patrick’s new duty station.  It’s a beautiful area!

Sadly I gave my two weeks’ notice at work.  I was going to wait until closer to my due date (well actually originally I was just going to request maternity leave lol) but now with the move, I gave notice earlier so that I have time to get ready for baby and for the move.  Also, Patrick is having his wisdom teeth pulled in a few weeks.  All four wisdom teeth!  I had all four of mine pulled ten years ago before I left for college.  I’m nervous for him and feel bad because it’s not a fun experience.

Time flies is a true statement!  In just a few weeks Patrick and I will celebrate our one year anniversary.  What an amazing, adventurous year it has been!  We cheated and ate our wedding cake while we were back home for the shower.  We decided it was easier to just eat it while there rather than have my parents ship it out to us or we travel back with it. We ate it on the anniversary of our engagement so it was still meaningful.  The funny thing is, none of us remembered what flavor the cake was, so it was a fun little reveal when we cut into it lol.  It was lemon cake with raspberry filling by the way, yummy.

So a few things will be happening in the next few weeks: our one year anniversary, Patrick getting his wisdom teeth pulled and taking birthing classes.  And before we know it, baby girl will be here and we will be packing up and moving!

New year, new adventures!

It's been a while

It's been some time since I last posted. Few things have happened during that time.

Patrick and I celebrated 3 months of marriage.  I know it may sound silly to celebrate months now that we are married but when his work schedule is crazy and unknown, you celebrate when you can!  In the month of July, Patrick and I spent 8 days together.  So far this month, we have spent 3 days together.  The boat has been in dry dock in AL and he has been working hard on it.  He should be coming home soon though!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get to celebrate his birthday together.

In 3 weeks we will be traveling to AK which means having to put the boys in a kennel. If we were in Maryland I wouldn't be bothered by this fact.  Last time we were in AK, we only had Duke and mom watched him.  For the wedding, we took both boys to Weeping Willow kennels. I trusted them with my babies.  I'm a little uneasy here, because all I can do is google, I have no personal recommendations and I don't want to just leave the boys anywhere.  We shall see what happens...

I applied for a few positions the beginning of August and ended up accepting a job at a child development center.  I started out working in the 1 year old. That was quite a change of scenery from what I'm used to!  However, starting tomorrow I will be in the 3 year old room.  The teacher in there is leaving so for the next 2 days I'll be in there observing and then on Friday I'll officially take over.  It's going to be different then teaching 3rd grade or K but it will be a valuable experience!  The only thing about the job I don't like is the drive.  The mornings aren't as bad.  It took me about 20 mins, now that schools have started it takes me about 25.  The afternoon is a whole other story!  I work 8-5 and let me tell you, getting off at 5 is bad timing traffic wise.  Some days it has taken me 45 minutes to get home.  And the thing is, if you look on the map, the center is only about 11 miles from the house!  That's Texas for you!

After the trip to AK, the next big trip will be in October for my godsister's baby shower.  I'll get to go home for a few days so I'm excited.  I'm going to end this post here as I'm making myself a late dinner.

More updates to come...

Photos!

Well the trip to the library was a bust but I may have found a job opportunity.  Keep fingers crossed!
However, that is not what this post is about.  I realized I've talked about our trip to Texas but have not posted any photos.  So here are some wedding and trip photos for your viewing pleasure.  Don't forget to look for the Baltimore Ravens gnome!

 Our nephew Jack

Would you like to be my friend?

So one of the reasons why I’ve been so lonely here is because I have no friends here.  I’ve spoken on the phone with family and friends.  I even had lunch with my homestay mom from St. Croix who has now moved to the Houston area.  But I don’t have any friends here in Friendswood. This got me thinking.

When you’re a kid you make friends without even thinking about it.  Katerina and I became friends in first grade simply for the reason that we shared the same name.  You find things in common and you become friends. You can just walk up to someone and ask them to be your friend. Being in school together obviously is a huge factor.

School helps as you get older as well.  High school and college; both places to meet new people and make new friends. After college you get a job.  You meet people and make friends at your job.  You do the bar scene when you’re single.  You meet new people through people you already know. 

How do you make friends when you are 27, married and living in a new city?  I still haven’t found the answer to that.  But it got me thinking how much easier making friends is as a kid then it is as an adult.  You can't really just walk up to an adult and say "would you like to be my friend?"  I mean I guess you could lol. Has anyone ever experienced this? I’m sure other military wives have.  I thought I’d ask about this on a military spouse forum.  All the responses I got were from women with children.  Their common denominator seemed to be making new friends with other women who also had children.  They met at playgrounds, mommy and me classes, daycare etc. I’m not there yet, the only kids I currently have are of the four legged variety lol.  I know once I get a job I’ll make friends.  But it’s kinda like, well what do I do until I get a job?

Please don’t think I’m feeling sorry for myself again or being a downer. I'm doing much better than the first time Patrick was gone. I’m truly intrigued by this from a social aspect.  How do you make friends as an adult?  

Ironically last night on a rerun of The Bing Bang Theory, Sheldon was trying to work on his social skills to make friends and even went to the book store to find a book to help him. Obviously unlike Sheldon I do have “normal” social skills lol but it did make me think maybe the library would be a social avenue.  I haven't been to the library here yet (did find out it's like 2 blocks from my house) so I’m going to visit the library either sometime this weekend or this week.  Will I meet anyone while I'm there?  Will I make any adult friends?  Stay tuned for the results of my first "test" in the adult friendship social experiment!

Why the long face?

It’s been almost a month since I last posted.  Quite a few things have happened.  I had contacted a realtor before we left Maryland (he happened to be a former Coastie) and told him what type of house Patrick and I were looking for.  We went house hunting the weekend after we arrived in Texas.  Houses are definitely different than back home!  We found one we liked, three bedrooms, two baths, a garage for Patrick and a big backyard for Duke.

We signed the lease and on June 27^th we “officially” moved into the house.  Our stuff would not arrive until the following week.  Our realtor let us borrow two chairs and gave us a futon that he was getting rid of.  There was a table in the garage that we brought into the house.  Thank goodness for Goodwill, we went and got a TV for $10 and got our cable, internet and phone set up.  We also had to buy a washer, dryer and fridge.  We tried to get all that done quickly because on July 1^st Patrick left for work.  We both thought he was going to be gone a week and found out it was actually going to be for two.  (I was not happy about that one!)

Patrick’s truck was back in MD, so my parents drove it down, arriving July 4^th and were here to help me with the movers who arrived on July 5^th with all our stuff.  Unfortunately a few things were broken on their way to Texas, including two of my bookcases. In the blink of an eye, my parents were headed back home, I drove them to the airport that Sunday.

So there I was alone again, just me and the boys.  Mom helped me unpack most of the kitchen items while she was here and some bedroom items.  After they left, I continued with the unpacking and that’s what I’ve continued to do.  I still haven’t found my blender but I’m sure it will turn up.  After all, I opened a box labeled pillows and found a colander.  So I’m sure my blender is in some random box labeled something other than kitchen.  There was one tub that only had the couch pillows in it but one of the boxes (labeled girl stuff lol) was filled to the max.  It’s kinda like Christmas with unpacking because even though the box might be labeled with a particular item, you never know what you may find once you actually open the box.

It’s been fun setting up my first house.  I was very excited about the kitchen at first.  Then all our stuff got here and I realized I don’t have as much cabinet space as I did at the apartment.  I’ve taken a little break from the kitchen and using the dining room table for all items I have yet to find a home for lol.  

The hardest thing about this move is having Patrick be away for so long and being by myself.  He was gone for two weeks, came back for 3 days and is gone again for two weeks.  He will be back again for the weekend and then gone again.  

I’m used to him being gone for a few days, even a week when he left for training but all this occurred while I was in Salisbury, in my apartment, with my parents and friends in the same zip code. Not him being gone while I’m in a new place and know nobody. I’ve driven around the area to explore a bit and become familiar with the roads etc.  I’m looking forward to Patrick being home so we can explore the area together.

You’re probably thinking I’m feeling sorry for myself and you’re right.  I have been feeling sorry for myself and been sad and depressed where I have just sat on the couch all day doing nothing.  But then I received an email from my god sister that put it all into perspective.  She is an Air Force wife and her husband did 2 tours in Iraq.  She spent holidays and months without him.  It made me realize that I can survive 2 weeks without my husband.  There are women like my god sister who have gone months and months (and still are!) without their husbands.  And they didn’t just sit around moapping all day.  I have so much respect for all the military wives out there.  It truly is one of the hardest jobs out there!

I found a CG shirt with a quote on it that pretty much sums it up:

“When you love a Coastie, nothing can compare to the complete joy you feel when he’s home, the pain when he’s gone and the unconditional love and support you have for him”

P.S.  One of the things I’ve done is started gardening.  First day doing it I encountered a snake which I killed but was completely terrified the whole time!

Country roads take me home...

This song kept coming to mind as we traveled through beautiful country on our way to our final destination.

We left Maryland on June 17th and traveled all the way across Virginia and stopped in Kingsport, TN for the night.  Day 2 we left Kingsport for Decatur, AL.  It rained pretty much the entire drive!  It cleared up in Decatur though and we got to visit with Patrick's brother Nick and our adorable 2 year old nephew Jack.

*Fun fact:  Decatur, AL was named after Stephen Decatur.  The same Stephen Decatur my high school in Berlin, MD is named after.  If you don't know who he is, google :)*

Day 3 we got to sleep in a little bit.  We visited with Jack and Nick some more, before heading out for Hattiesburg, MS. We had dinner form Cracker Barrel.  I'm disappointed Salisbury finally gets around to having a Cracker Barrel and Buffalo Wild Wings after we leave.  I know where we are eating when we come back to visit!

Day 4 started off hot and cloudy.  Turned into hot and rainy. When it rains it pours!  I mean this literally.  It did not drizzle on this trip.  It either wasn't raining or it was a downpour. It didn't rain for long periods of time though.  It was nice when we got to Texas.  We stopped at the visitor center which was very cool.  There is a huge star in the front and in the back of the building there is a walkway and you can see the marsh and take pictures ( I took plenty, they are coming soon!)  When it did start to rain, wowza!  Could barely see the car in front of us.  I saw lightning about half a mile away.  The boys slept through the whole thing while Patrick thought it was funny when I jumped at the lightning and thunder.  I have to be honest, I have never been scared before riding in a car in that type of weather.  But there is always sunshine after the rain :)

As we did all that driving of the interstate highways, including Rt. 66 for a while, I spent most of the time looking out the window, enjoying the view and taking pictures.  The scenery was spectacular.  I think it's only in situations like these when you truly have the time to sit back and enjoy the view.  We live in a beautiful country and I think in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we lose sight of that.  

I've only seen a fraction of the land that makes this country so beautiful but I enjoyed and appreciated every moment of it.  I suggest everyone at some point get out there and take a drive.  Really take in the scenery of the land that makes up our country.  And if you are one of those people that needs a destination, set a course for Texas :)

Traveling with pets

I was nervous about traveling with Duke and Ozzy during the trip.  Well more Ozzy then Duke.  Duke is used to being a in a car and traveling even if it hadn't been for such long distances before.  Surprisingly, Ozzy has done really well.  He cried when we first started traveling and did every morning when we got on the road.  He would always end up falling asleep shortly after and did so for most of the drive.  I liked that every state we traveled through had a rest stop every 50 miles or so.  We would stop every 2 hours or so and take Duke out.  We tried taking Ozzy out too but he wasn't a big fan, instead he just stretched out in the car.  Both have also done well in the hotels.  Duke would cry if one of us left the room but that's typical Duke behavior.  Overall,  I'm really grateful and happy with how well traveling with has been with them.