I'm going to vent...

I have decided that I HATE maternity clothes.  I know they are not as bad as they used to be and are more on par with non-maternity styles of clothes, but they are some of the most ill-fitting pieces of clothes I have ever tried on.  Some of the tops fit me, but bottoms, forget it.  I have tried on so many pairs of shorts/pants I have lost count and they are all HUGE!  (Side note:  I know.  Some of you are thinking, well, what a nice problem to have.  Believe me, I am not complaining about my size per se, but rather how they size maternity clothes. Why they only make a small rather than number sizes is beyond me, but the smalls are not small at all).  Up until yesterday I literally had no shorts that fit me.  I could wear a couple of pairs of my normal shorts with a belly band, but that is not very comfortable, especially in the heat wave we have been having.  Yesterday, I finally found a pair of shorts.  They still aren't maternity, but they do have an elastic/drawstring waist and it made me so happy.  So, if you see me in the next couple of months and I have worn the same pair of shorts every day, don't judge me....they only had one pair in my size, but hopefully I can find more.

Playing catch up...

Ok, I am like a month behind on blogging.  Or should I say, I WAS a month behind on blogging.  There are 3 other posts below, so I hope you have a little while to catch up on the goings on in our world!

(Almost) 29 weeks!

Ok, time for a Baby T update!  I am a day shy of 29 weeks and everything seems to be going just fine.  I went to the dr last week and everything was measuring normal and looking good.  They also put me on the  every 2 week appointment schedule, so I go again next week.  I was a little surprised actually.  I mean, I knew that was coming, it is just a little crazy that it got here so fast!  I also took, and passed, my glucose test.  It wasn't that bad.  The drink tasted semi-normal going down, but the after taste was pretty yucky, especially since I couldn't even have a drink of water to wash it away until after they took my blood an hour later.  But other than that, it was fine.  Here is an updated belly shot (taken today as a matter of fact).  I will really try to be better about posting some updated pictures in the next few weeks.

We have also been working on getting the little guy's nursery together.  I should have taken pictures to document the progression of things, but I forgot, and Kyle moves fast when he is in his "get things done" mode, so even when I did remember, it was too late.  But, we cleared out a lot of random things that had accumulated in there over the past year and a half, to include: lots of clothes and things that finally went to goodwill, a broken big screen tv (that places wanted us to pay them to take, so we ended up giving away on craigslist), and Kyle's uniforms and other trip related things.  Then, it got painted (one accent wall is blue and the other 3 are a creamy taupe color.  It looks really good) and crown moulding was put in.  All by my wonderful husband.  Then we got to put the crib together!  That was what I was really looking forward to, for 2 reasons: 1.  well, I just wanted to put it together and 2.  it had been sitting in a huge box in our hallway for 2 weeks and I was ready for that to go away.  I really love the way it looks so far!  The rest of the furniture had to be ordered and isn't here yet, so it will have to wait until Kyle gets back from Oklahoma.

Crib

Another.  I didn't really take pictures of the other walls because, well, there is nothing there yet.  I took this picture so you could see the 2 wall colors together.

And if you're curious, no, we don't have a name yet.  We have a favorite, with a couple of others on the list, but it is a little difficult to make it final just yet.  You may have to wait until he gets here.  I don't know.  We'll see.  That's all for now.  Like I said, I will really try and be better about putting up new pictures as I have them!

Dining In/Out and a Captain!

After we got back from our vacation, Kyle's squadron had a dining out/in (I don't know what it "technically" was.  I called it a dining out because that is what I heard it called, and Kyle told me it was a dining in).  Whatever you call it, it is basically a fancy dinner that the squadron puts on to honor former members of the 14th.  A few get inducted to a "hall of fame" of sorts.  It was fun to get dressed up and go our with my handsome husband!  And the actual event was pretty fun too, dinner was sub-par at best but dessert was amazing, and there were some interesting nuances to the whole AF tradition thing.  For example, instead of clapping, you bang your spoon on the table.  There were some other things, but I kept thinking "and they say Aggies are weird..." ;)  I guess it is all what you are used to.  But it was a fun night none the less.

All dressed up (you can't really see my belly, but I am 27ish weeks here)

And, a few days after that, Kyle got promoted!  It is actually less exciting than it sounds, it was an automatic thing and he just showed up to work one day with his new rank one, but he is now a captain!  Yay!

Homecoming/Vacation

Well, at the beginning of May, my husband came home after being gone for 4 months!  It was a really exciting day!  They came in around 11am, so I didn't have to wait all day.  Although, I was ready really early just sitting around wondering what to do.  Anyway, all of the spouses (and everyone else) met up at the passenger terminal on base.  When the plane arrived we went outside and they taxied the plane (almost) right up to where we were.  I was not sure I was going to be able to spot Kyle, seeing as they were all wearing the same thing (their uniform) and they kind of all look alike.  But nope.  I saw him.  He was maybe the 10th or so person off the plane.  Even from far away his height makes him pretty recognizable.  It was a sweet moment when I was finally able to give him a big hug after so long.  He then had to go into a secure area to in-process and give some blood, but after we got his bags, he was all mine for 2 weeks!

Here at last!

The welcoming party

A couple of days after he got home, I had another doctor appointment, and he got to go with me for the first time (with this baby).  They were nice enough to give us an ultrasound, even though I wasn't scheduled for one so that he could see our little guy.  It was really special that they did that for us, and we even got to see his face!  (At my 20 week, he was a little stubborn about showing his face, so I hadn't even seen that before - that is where the picture below came from).

A day or two after that, we left on a week and a half-ish vacation.  We went to DC for a few days, just the 2 of us, and then we headed down to Texas to see family.  It was a whirlwind, but totally fun.  In DC, we did all of the things that one would typically do on their first visit.  Well, it was my first visit, Kyle had been there before.  The afternoon we arrived, a friend of Kyle's happened to be in town, so we met him for dinner and hung out.  On our first full day there, we walked through a little farmers market, toured the Capitol, went to the Library of Congress (which was really cool by the way), and did a night monument tour.  The second day, we went to 2 museums, Natural Science and American History.  We both liked the American History one much better.  The natural science museum was cool, and we saw a 3D Imax film, and it would be great for kiddos, but it seemed to push the theory of evolution pretty heavily, so that was a little not appealing.  But we saw the Hope Diamond and some other really pretty jewelry, and next to the movie, that was probably my favorite part.  At the American History museum, they had a little bit of everything.  A lot of information about the different wars we have participated in, the progression of technology in our country and some other cool stuff like THE red slippers Judy Garland aka Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz, a replica of Julia Child's kitchen and some of the inaugural ball dresses worn by the first ladies.  And I do have to say, whatever you think of our current first lady, her dress was beautiful in person!  It may not have suited her body type the best, but none the less, the dress was beautiful and I would wear it.  Behind that one, Nancy Reagan's dress was also really pretty.  After the museums, we went by the White House on our way to go up in the tower of the old post office building.  That had some really great views of the whole area.  We then went back to the hotel, and since it was our last evening there, we went out to a nice dinner in Georgetown.  Actually, this place was suggested by friends, and it was amazing!  I still think about the pasta dish I ordered.  Soooo yummy!  Here are just a few of the many pictures we took:

Us in front of the Library of Congress with the Capitol building in the background

One of my husband's many good pictures.  He's a really good photographer!

Kyle with Thomas Jefferson

Me "in" Julia Childs kitchen

The White House

We then headed to Houston to do all sorts of family activities.  We had a cookout with Kyle's side of the family, my brothers' last final review for the Corps, my mom and mother in law threw me a baby shower, and we celebrated Kyle's sister's birthday a day early.  Plus, my mom and I had some shopping to do while Kyle and his dad brushed up on their golf game ;).  That is a brief summary, but it was a really special time with lots of family!  Shower pictures:

The beautiful (and delicious) cake

Kyle aka Daddy with his mom (name tbd)

My mom cutting the cake

Me

What the men did during the shower.  See, guys can have fun at a baby shower too ;)

And, after making this post, I really am resolving to be better about taking pictures.  I didn't even get a picture with me and the 2 hostesses.  Keep me accountable people!

Amy came to visit!

In the last couple of weeks before Kyle came home, my oldest and VERY dear friend came to visit!  (I can honestly say she is my oldest friend.  Not like that, we are the same age.  But we have known each other and been friends since we were 2!)  It was so great that she could come out on her time off in between school and work - she just graduated from law school, and that is kind of an understatement: she kicked law school's butt!, and just started her new career.  It was so amazing to see her and spend some time with her!

On the first day she was here, we went on a carriage tour of downtown, walked through the old slave market (this is not where they sold slaves, but where they came to buy produce and other stuff), and walked around parts of downtown that our carriage tour didn't take us down.  On day 2, we went to the beach.  It was such a nice, relaxing day to just sit and chat and enjoy some really beautiful weather.  The last day we went to Middleton Place, which I had never been to before either.  It was beautiful!  Definitely worth the (kind of) high price of admission.  Oh, and we ate lots of yummy food of course.  Naturally, I didn't take pictures of most of these occasions (I really am trying to get better about this!).  I did take pictures at Middleton, so here are some of those:

Amy and I

The reflecting pool

View of the Ashley River where the original house stood.  The Union army burned it after the Civil War and an earthquake leveled what was left.  It was a 3 story, very impressive house.

The gentleman's quarters that the family later used for the main dwelling after the earthquake.

It was such a great visit, even though it was short.  I had so much fun with such a special friend!

Keep reading.  Another (and very important) post is below!

So its been a while.

And even then I was behind.  Truthfully, it has gotten to the point where I can't really make any more posts without posting this one first.

Most of you are already aware of this, but in case you aren't, Kyle and I are very excited to say that we are expecting a little boy in August!  Having said that, here he is:

(If you can't really tell what you are looking at, its ok.  On the left side of the picture is his chest and abdomen and the little round thing above that and to the right is his face with a hand next to it.  He is laying sideways, maybe that helps.)

I am now a day shy of 26 weeks and I feel good.  Physically, this pregnancy has been relatively easy.  I didn't really get sick at all, and besides being tired a lot in the first trimester I have felt really good.  Mentally, it has been kind of difficult.  Kyle left on his deployment not even 2 weeks after we found out, so up until my last appointment, he was gone.  I have had anxiety anyway, and with him being gone it was that much harder.  But everything seems to be going well and it is so nice to have Kyle back.  I have also had requests from some to see my belly.  The latest one I have is me on Mothers Day (at 24 weeks):

We weren't actually going out for Mothers Day per se, we were on vacation in DC and this was our last night there before we headed off to TX.  It just so happens it was on mothers day.

We are thrilled and would appreciate prayers for the safe and healthy arrival of this little boy.  In case you were wondering, no we don't have a name yet.  We didn't even start talking about that until Kyle got home, and well lets just say its hard.  We will keep you updated on the goings on with our little guy!