Thursday, December 29, 2011

post-christmas confessions


i'm linking up with e myself and i for some post-christmas confessions...

- on december 24th i shamelessly sent my dad out to go get my brother's christmas present for me...and ended up having my brother pick out his own present.  i still haven't paid him back for it yet.

- i cried when i left lucy in pensacola for christmas.  i'd like to blame it on the crazy hormones that come with pregnancy, but really, i would have cried anyway.

- sometimes i look at fly boy's flat stomach and get jealous.  then feel ridiculous for feeling jealous.  then envy him even more when he can so effortlessly bend over to tie his shoes.

- i have spent more time than i want to admit standing in our closet, looking longingly at my per-pregnancy clothes and wondering when we will be reunited again.

- part of me still believes that if i buy a new pair of shoes, it will make everything wrong in my life right again.  (even though i know the feeling will only last a few hours while i wear my new shoes, i am still tempted to go out and buy new shoes for the few hours of careless bliss.)

- i have been daydreaming about getting back to florida and taking down all the christmas decor.  i LOVE getting the house back to "normal" after the holidays.

- i've eaten christmas cookies for breakfast the last three days.

- i almost got away with avoiding doing dirty dishes before i left for our christmas vacation, and fully intended on leaving them in the sink for fly boy to deal with when he got back before me.  much to my dismay, my flight out of florida got delayed four hours, and i had no choice but to wash (and dry) the dishes.  i hate doing dishes.  with a passion.

thanks e for the link-up!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

awkward moments of being pregnant: flying


since we made the big move from delaware to florida, i've flown a few times to see my family, fly boy's family and a trip up to roanoke to see friends.  as fly boy and i get ready to split christmas between columbus and syracuse, i thought i would share some of the "special" moments i've had to date flying while pregnant...

- after carefully planning an outfit i was SURE would make it through security without a second walk-through, i got to experience my first frisking.  seriously, i was so sure this was the best outfit i could have worn to NOT get frisked.  as the security guy led me to the frisking area, he noted that it was probably my extra supportive bra that set off the metal detectors.  great.  thanks.  enter a slightly overweight middle aged woman who starts to pat me down.  when she got to my stomach, she informed me that this was her second frisking of a pregnant woman that day and asked if it is a boy or a girl (while her hand has found permanent residence on my stomach.)  i smile, a girl.  she then asked how far along i am, hand still on my stomach.  i tell her.   she replied, "well, i guess your baby isn't very active, i can't feel it moving."  i awkwardly laughed, hoping to get out of the security area as quickly as possible.  with her hand STILL planted on my stomach, she then noted, "oh i think i just felt the baby....wait, no, that was just you laughing."  i smiled, really hoping to stop the chit-chat and move on.  she looked at me for what felt like an eternity, and with her hand not budging from my stomach, goes on to tell me how wonderful boys are and how excited i should be to have a little boy.  i agreed, not wanting to correct her and continue this awkward interaction, and after what felt like for.ev.er. of this stranger keeping her hand on my stomach, she finally let me go.  i haven't had too many awkward moments of strangers touching my stomach, but i think this single interaction made up for all the lack of awkward belly-touching moments thus far.

- as i found my seat on the plane, the passenger next to me saw my starbucks cup, and "jokingly" said, "you know, pregnant women really shouldn't have caffeine."  i smiled and told him it was a steamer, just hot milk and a shot of vanilla.  (of course i'm sitting in the window seat and he is in the middle, so he now has me as his captive audience for the duration of the flight.)  the gentleman then proceeded to go on a five minute rant about bad habits of pregnant women, including but not limited to, caffeine intake, smoking and drinking.  i had the ipod out and ready to go for when i could hear the captain say those sweet words, "the use of electronics is not permitted."  thank goodness for boise and noise-blocking headphones.

- not pregnancy related, but still funny...)  on another recent trip, i sat down next to a couple, who were clearly newly dating. 
girl: is this your first time flying?
guy: no, i've flown before.  have you ever been on one of those really big planes?  where there three seats, an isle, three seats, another isle and three more seats?
girl: oh honey, those planes don't really exist.  they make those up for the movies.  this [the plane we were sitting on] is the biggest plane that actually exists.
guy: (rolls his eyes, takes the girl's hand and smiles at her.)
we were on a little puddle jumper from atlanta to roanoke.  the plane only had five seats across.  and this girl actually thought that the prop plane was the biggest plane that is made.  hilarious.

with three more legs of flying to go over the next ten days, i am sure to have more "moments" to add to this list after christmas.

here's to awkward moments while being pregnant.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

i.love.christmas.
hands down, my favorite holiday.

part of it certainly is that my top love language is gift giving.  i love finding the perfect gifts.  my brother and i have an unspoken competition each year to see who can give the best gifts to our parents and grandparents.  (usually i win. though he is always in a more stable financial situation, i go for the homemade gifts.  no competition.)


we got a real tree this year.  fly boy grew up with fake trees.  i grew up with real trees.  last year we used his almost-real-looking-fake tree.  while it was very nice to not have to water the tree, or worry about it drying out while we traveled, i insisted politely asked that since we were moving to florida this year and there would be zero chance of getting snow at christmas, at least the house had to smell like christmas.  somehow, cough cough, the fake tree didn't make it in the move from delaware to florida. 

as my brother pointed out, it will be fun to see how high our electric bill is this month.

yes, lucy has her own stocking.  she is an essential part of the family.




probably my favorite christmas decoration...the twig reindeer.  fly boy's least favorite.  these may have been a last minute addition to our wedding registry last year that fly boy had no knowledge of.  in general, when creating a wedding registry, i highly recommend working together to choose items for your house.  in our case, we had some very generous guests, and while fly boy was out on a mission in the middle east or somewhere far away, i needed to add some more items to the registry.  the twig reindeer made the cut.  i honestly didn't think anyone would buy us christmas decorations, but knew we could get 10% off after the wedding.  i was thrilled when the massive boxes arrived at our doorstep a few weeks after the wedding.  my hope is that that one day fly boy will love the deer as much as i do.



i got this free printable from HERE, a cheap frame from walgreens and used some wrapping paper for the background. 

generally, my favorite room in the house, except during christmas (as you can't see the tree from the sunroom.) 

my last project for the season.  all thanks to paper source.


if it were socially acceptable, i would keep the christmas decor up all year.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

midweek confessions

my friend over at e, myself and i started a weekly confessions post. 

love it.  count me in.

-  i found a new blog to obsess follow, and it made my morning.  when i tried explaining to fly boy how excited i was, he dismissed me like i was crazy.  (check out jones design company)  it's totally normal for a new blog to change the trajectory of your day.  especially when it's a good blog that offers fun free printables.

-  the pictures of little ava in front of her christmas tree with her dad here makes me want to fast forward the next two years until our own little girl will be decorating our christmas tree with fly boy. 

-  i'm becoming boarder-line addicted to facebook on my iphone.  and i not so secretly, secretly love making fun of crazy people's posts to fly boy.  generally this includes people who divulge way too much information about their personal lives for the world to see.

-  after i found out i passed my glucose test earlier this week, i may have celebrated by eating an eggo waffle topped with strawberry & vanilla icecream, chocolate syrup, maple syrup (the real stuff, not the fake watered down imitation maple syrup like aunt jemima) and a cherry. 

-  i stand by my claim that i am NOT having any weird cravings so far in the pregnancy.  i totally would have eaten the perfect meal like last night (a baby bell cheese, cinnamon toast, meatball with spaghetti sauce, and piece of chocolate) BEFORE we got pregnant.
 
-  i've been wanting to put up pictures of our christmas decorations since december 1st, but have held off because i keep finding more things i want to add to the house.

-  i'm 30 weeks pregnant and just getting around to signing up for birthing classes at the hospital.

-  we haven't started the nursery at ALL.  case-in-point.


-  i had a nightmare over thanksgiving that i went into labor in while we were in syracuse.  i woke up in tears because we haven't bought a car seat and though we've ordered the crib, it hasn't come in yet. 
(ps: though we don't have a crib, car seat, pack-n-play or any other "essentials," baby girl does however, have a good start to her wardrobe...)


-  i'm banking on this girl making her debut at least a few days late so we'll have over 10 weeks to get everything together.


that's about it for now.
thanks e for a great idea!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

27 weeks and 1 year


no denying the baby "bump" now!

fly boy and i went out to a nice dinner for our anniversary last night.  it's crazy to think what this past year has brought...a puppy, a new job, quitting the new job because of fly boy's orders, moving from delaware to florida and a pregnancy.  needless to say, we had a lot to celebrate.


it's also crazy to think that next year this time we are going to need to get a babysitter to go out again!

Friday, November 18, 2011

hello third trimester!

of my friends recently posted about things she misses about being pregnant.  the blog got me thinking about things i am looking forward to when i am NOT pregnant.  which of course lead me to make my own pro/con list of being pregnant...


PROs
eating ice-cream for dinner

having the excuse to “eat whatever you want”

feeling the baby kick

a chance to buy some new “cute” maternity clothes

getting to park in the ridiculously close “expecting mother” spaces at target

free foot rubs from fly boy.

CONs
eating ice-cream for dinner because it’s the only thing you can keep down, and later the consequences of eating ice-cream for dinner even after you are prescribed an anti-nausea medicine that fixed the morning sickness.

the ridiculously long list of foods you aren’t supposed to eat while pregnant… including, but not limited to brie, bleu cheese, feta cheese, hot dogs, lunch meat, caffeine, sushi, tuna, and raw eggs (no more cookie batter)

feeling the baby kick.  all.night.long.

none of your old cute clothes fit anymore…and somehow it seems like all good maternity brands run SMALL.  whoever thought it would be a good idea to make a clothes line smaller than normal that specifically targets women whose emotions are already at extreme highs and lows?!  seriously!

being so big that you now waddle instead of walk…i guess that’s why target gives you the close parking.

swollen feet.  i would gladly give up the foot rubs for normal looking feet.

heart burn…which is definitely not limited to the third trimester, though i hear it gets worse in the third trimester.

apparently it is normal for your eyesight to get worse during pregnancy…who knew?  i thought i finally needed glasses as each week I have to increase the zoom on my word documents by another 25%.


don't get me wrong...most days i love being pregnant, and am more than confident that it will be worth every nausea-filled morning once baby girl arrives.  only three more months to go!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

new friends.

all day friday felt like saturday.
fly boy had veteran's day off, and we spent the morning having a doggie play date with another golden retriever.  this was lucy's first experience with a younger dog.

usually when we have had puppy play dates the encounter is fairly predictable...

1. lucy bounces around in excitement.
2. lucy jumps all over the other dog whining and grunting "play with me"
3. with-in the first two minutes of meeting the new dog, lucy is flipped over on her back in submission.

this one was entirely different.
the other puppy, addy, is only 6 months old.  though not too much bigger, lucy was obviously the "older" dog.  it actually took her a good 30 minutes to get acclimated to being the "dominant" (if you can even call it that) dog.  eventually she loved it.


i think lucy has found a new friend in florida.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

parents weekend

parents weekend was never a big deal for me in college.
my college was only 4 hours from home, so it never felt as though i was "never going to see my family unless they come for parents weekend."

6 years after college, i think i'm experiencing that void now.

don't get me wrong, i LOVE living in florida.  i just think it would be nice if new york and florida were a little closer than the 1,293.13 miles apart they actually are.  (yet, somehow keep their respective climates...i could see the beautiful fall colors and enjoy the crisp air of upstate new york, then return to the 70 degree november we are having here now.)

one nice thing about living so far away, AND living in a desirable tourist area is that we have gotten almost as many visitors in the two short months we have lived here as we did in the nine months we lived in delaware.

my dad flew down to help us unpack/unload our moving truck in the beginning of september.
we could NOT have gotten everything done without him, nor will we be doing a full DITY move again.



fly boy's mom came to visit for a long weekend in october.



my mom came to visit in the beginning of november.



with each visitor, fly boy and i have gotten increasingly better at determining when to get to the beach and which beaches to go.  when my dad was here in september, we had no idea where we were going and stopped at the first state beach we found.  it was pretty, but not as nice as some of the other beaches.  when fly boy's mom was here, we forgot how early the sun sets and almost missed all daylight at the beach.  by the time my mom got here, we knew to get to the beach well before sunset and were able to enjoy a longer walk on the beautiful white sand.  we've got our system down and are ready for more visitors!

somehow i don't think it's going to be a problem to convince friends to come see us in february/march when the north is still covered in snow and slush and we are back out on the beach.  we're ready!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

lil' lucy turns one!

milestones.

lucy has had a few over the last year...
becoming housebroken
passing obedience school
digging her way to china at my parents house (and now in our backyard)
...and now her 1st birthday day!

of course fly boy and i wanted to celebrate her with her.

but first a few pics from lucy's first year...














Monday, October 31, 2011

making new friends: 101

trying to make new friends as a couple is remarkably similar to dating...

it's awkward. you get butterflies in your stomach. and quickly become very self-conscience.

being married to the military, i know this is something i am going to have to not only get used to but eventually perfect...  i'm sure moving every three years will aid in that.

but really, the similarities between hanging out with a new potential friend couple and being on a first date are uncanny...

1.  the freak out hour about what to wear before going on the date, including but not limited to trying on every outfit in your closet before realizing you have nothing suitable to impress the potential new friends.
2. the awkward silences while you wait for your dinner to arrive.  you've already covered family, where the potential friend couple grew up, how they met, how long they've been married...where do you go from here?  ask about their hopes and dreams??
3. while on the date, it is inevitable that you will say something stupid and/or divulge too much information too early...things only your closest friends know about you and somehow still love you anyway.  
4. on the ride home, you and your spouse will second guess everything you said while on the "date"
after spending time with a new couple, i've actually thought...
did they like me?
did i talk too much?
were our jokes funny?
5.  finally of course wondering if they will want to hang out again...is there going to be a second date?  will they call us?  how long should we wait before we call them again?

a wise, wise woman warned me before fly boy and i got married how difficult it is to make a friend couple.  not only do you have to like the wife, but your husband also has to like the husband.  easier said than done.  she advised, "when you find that couple, hang on and never ever let go."

that being said, fly boy and i recently had one of the best "first dates" on record.

we laughed. hard.  i'm surprised milk didn't pour out of my nose.
we ate frozen yogart and laughed some more.

we played bingo.  yes, bingo.  imagine a smoke filled room with about 20 other people where we brought the average age down by around 40 or 50 years.  everyone else is using computers to play, we insisted on blotting our own boards.  we had no idea what we were doing.  we all lost.  and it was amazing.
we called 911 for a random car accident we saw on the way home from bingo and stuck around to help out the people in the crash (not exactly "fun," but the event still contributed to our amazing night.)
we capped the night off hanging out in the other couple's living room talking/laughing for another few hours.

if only all first dates included a few hours of bingo and an entire night of laughter...
the world would be a better place.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

our biggest news yet

friend of mine recently had a beautiful baby boy.
rewind her story a few months...
she and her husband were high school sweet hearts, so both sets of grandparents are in the same city.  when it came time to find out if they were having a boy or girl, they decided to do a gender reveal party.

i.love.this.idea.

unfortunately fly boy's family is in ohio, my family is in syracuse and we live in florida.  somehow getting both sides together wasn't a very realistic option.

i still wanted to be a little creative in how we shared the news of the baby's gender with our families.  (especially since the whole pregnancy was a bit of a surprise for fly boy and me...and we may have called our parents only a few hours after getting the positive result in the home pregnancy test...)

my parents were on a business trip to hawaii on the day we had the 22 week ultrasound.  i secretly had my aunt, who was also on the business trip, take a blue and pink set of candles with her.  after we got the news, i called my aunt and had her give the appropriate candle to the waiter to put on my parents' dessert.

when my mom saw the dessert with a candle coming to her table, she started asking around whose birthday it was.  no one answered.  when the waiter placed the dessert in front of her, she looked at my dad and said, "it's not our anniversary,  they gave us the wrong dessert..."

thankfully my aunt was there to save the day and remind my mom that the dessert was from us...

  

we're having a GIRL!!

fly boy and i couldn't be more thrilled.  both sets of grandparents are excited as well.  baby girl will be #7 grandchild on fly boy's side, and #1 grandchild on my side. 

bring on the pink!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

no longer my own

i know every mom out there will be quick to tell you, your life is no longer your own once you become a mother. 

i got my first dose of this reality check only a few weeks into the pregnancy when the "morning" sickness began. (ps: morning sickness is NOT limited to the hours of 12AM-11AM or whenever you want to consider the "morning"...)

case-in-point

this is the result of being 22 weeks pregnant, still feeling the effects of morning sickness, you have started to paint your toes, then had to spend the remainder of the morning in the bathroom.

i may or may not have had to choose what shoes (toms, because they are close-toed) i wore to bible study this morning because of how my toes looked. 

my life is no longer my own.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

it's been awhile

...where have you been my long lost friend, it's good to see you again...

i know it's been awhile.
several months awhile.


long enough for not only us to find out i'm pregnant, but also to move, quit my job, get a new house, get settled in the new house, and already have had two visitors stay with us in florida!

it's also *almost* long enough for us to find out if we are having a boy or girl...more to come on that next week.

...and long enough for me to have a baby bump...



i think it's safe to say we have started off to an exciting fall.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

PCSing

in about 6 short weeks we will pack everything we own in brown boxes, entrust all our possessions to some big brawny men in jumpsuits who drive a massive truck and make the long trek from delaware to florida.
6 weeks.
that's 42 days.
less than two months.
i haven't even begun to think about packing everything, i feel like we just were able to unpack everything from the wedding!

that being said, my bestest friend and her husband are coming to visit next weekend.  it's their first trip to delaware and i'm pretty excited to say the least.  not that she will care, but i've been looking around the house noticing all the small things i want to fix up before they see our house.  all these details are just personal touches, not changes that actually NEED to be made to the house before we move.  nonetheless, i want it to be, well, perfect.

case in point.  for christmas, my parents gave us the matching nightstands for our bedroom set.  they didn't arrive until late april when fly boy was out on a mission.  i rearranged the room to fit the new furniture, but had to move fly boy's dresser.  i wasn't sure if he would like the new arrangement, so i didn't want to move all the picture frames, spackle and paint just to have to move it back if fly boy wanted to keep it the way we originally had the room set up.

this was late april...it's now mid july...
the furniture was kept the way i moved it.
and i still haven't moved the picture frames.

every morning, i look at it, and think, i really need to move those before karina gets here.
have i done anything?
nope.
she gets here in five days.

i am considering making sweetly asking fly boy to move them this week.
6 weeks before we move.
which means we will have to spackle and paint this week, then again in 6 weeks when we move.


ridiculous, right? (the pictures, not me...)
and totally worth the extra spackling/painting.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

wedding season

it's here.
i love this time of year.
the flower are in bloom, the trees take on the deepest green, and though it's cliched, love is in the air.

one of my dearest friends got married this past weekend.
it was the perfect wedding.

i'll let these few pictures do the talking....






congrats s&a!