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This is a blog about our life. I started the blog because we lived overseas for my husbands job. That meant it was hard to keep family, back in The States, in the loop about what we were up to. It also became a great way to share my sons birth story with everyone who we wish could have been there. I slowly got busy with life & stopped blogging. Here we are in 2014, living back in the good ol' USA & as we make life changes I find this to be a great way to share my thoughts and save them for my son to look back on someday.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

32 Weeks

WOW, I have been pregnant for 32 weeks now. Where has time gone. We have celebrated Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day, and even went on a trip to and from Texas in all this time. Amazing. It is hard to imagine that in 8 weeks we could have a baby that is all ours. Crazy! I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday. They did some heart rate monitoring for a little while before my appointment. This will be the norm now. I also start my every two weeks appointments now, yeah we are that close. It was just so lovely that the hospital doesn't have AC. Most days in Germany it doesn't matter that its rare to be somewhere with AC but of course on the day of my appointment it was unusually hot. According to the thermometer in the truck, it was over 90 degree. Yeah it was HOT for there not being AC. I think that we adjusted to the heat in Texas pretty well so the 90 degrees here wasnt miserable for us. Thank the lord our apartment stays fresh even without AC. Anyways, when we got the hospital the reception area was all dark and the rolladens were closed, they were obviously trying to not let it get too hot in there. Same with the exam room. The room is rather large and over half the lights were off.
There must have been something going on because our doctor was in and out  and kept apologizing saying "one moment". If I spoke German maybe I would know what was going on LOL. After over 20 minutes of waiting they sent in another Dr. Chango is still breech. However, he must be mad at us or something because this is the first ultrasound that he has not shown his face. I get an ultrasound at every appointment and he cooperates rather well usually. I guess he is tired of being scrunched up because this time he had the back of his head to us. Oh well, maybe next time he will show his face. I normally don't ask for weight or measurements or anything because they staple all the information into my little booklet with my medical info. Well I didn't pay attention this time and this doctor didn't staple it in for us. So I don't know how much he weighs at this time. I did ask if he was okay size wise and the Dr assured us that he looks good and is measuring fine. So all is well with us.

Also this week The Mr put on another stripe!! That means he went up one rank. I am super super proud of him. He has done an awesome job in progressing in his career. Once again, I couldn't ask for a better husband. Yesterday was his promotion ceremony. It was very simple but meant a lot to me nonetheless (hopefully to him too LOL) I can't even express how proud I am of him. I must say the tea and cake they served was pretty gross HAHA. We all know how much I love food so I was pretty disappointed. The cakes at the commissary here are way better than what they served.

I just accepted my financial aid today. Due to The Mr having deployed last year, I was awarded almost double the Pell Grant from last year. Super grateful for that. Even though tuition went up I am accepting less in the FAFSA loans because of the Pell Grant. I am super grateful for the Pell Grant and The UMUC Presidents Grant. Without them I would have to accept even more from FAFSA. Now I just have to register for Fall classes. I started looking at the schedule but haven't decided on the actual classes yet. Im thinking Spanish and my LAST writing class. We'll see once the syllabus' are out.

I think that is it for now.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

School

So as most people know, I am a full time student. I go full time year round and then usually full time in the summer as well. This was my plan when we got here so that I would graduate right around the time we PCS out of Germany. I want to be done and graduated before we leave back to the states for a couple reasons. One major reason is that I will complete my entire degree through one school and wont have to worry about transferring credits and wasting time retaking classes. The other big reason is that if by some crazy luck we end up in Texas near family I know I will not go back to school. I would rather hang out with family, sad but true. So this going full time plan has worked just fine so far. I take two classes each session with 4 sessions total through the year and then I take two more classes during summer session and so far I am right on track to graduate right when we should PCS out of here. 
Well, with the baby coming obviously things are going to change. I am determined to not let having a baby change my goal or hold it back. He shouldn't change anything unless there are complications of some sort and I need to be home 24/7. I hit my first bump in the road this summer session. As mentioned, I normally take 2 classes in summer. First of all I had to go online for summer because we went to the States and I would have missed too much class time if I went face to face, no big deal. We then decided I should only take 1 class this summer because the last week of classes aka FINALS would be the same week Chango is due. So I only enrolled in one class for summer. Well, I logged on the weekend before classes started to only find out that the class had been canceled due to low enrollment. UGH!! I guess no one else wants to take Spanish LOL. So I have no classes this summer. I haven't actually sat down yet to see how much that is going to throw me off for graduation. I think I will be okay as long as I pass all my classes the first try. At the worst I might have to take an extra elective next summer or something to be on the safe side.
Bump number two hit this week. I stopped into the education center last week because I was awarded a $500 grant for summer session, well since the class was canceled I needed to make sure the money wasn't disbursed to me since I was no longer eligible. Luckily, it was an easy fix, no problems! While sitting there I decided to see what is being offered Fall session 1. The base does not offer very many upper level face to face classes very often. Usually they have to be online. So when classes come up that are specific to my major or minor I jump on it. Of course they are going to be offering two upper level courses that I would love love to take face to face. One is for my major Human Resources Mgmt. Great news right? No not really. Classes start August 22nd. I am due August 24th. So here is the bump, do I enroll in face to face or just cut my losses and go online for fall session one? Decisions decisions. I wish I knew how long it would take me to recover from birth. If I could manage only missing a week of classes, I would enroll and go face to face. However, I know some people can barely move for weeks after birth. I would also risk that I end up with a c-section and really have a rough recovery. Its not the end of the world if I dont go face to face. I just wish I was able to.
I am determined to stay enrolled in school and keep going full time. Hopefully they offer classes I need Fall session 2 so I can get back into the classroom setting. Thank goodness for my husbands work schedule that will allow for me to stay in school and he can be home with Chango while I am in class. 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Texas Vacay

Well, we are back in Germany. Spent two awesome, super bust weeks in Texas. Two weeks is not long enough but better than no time at all. Went to two High School Graduations. Super proud of The Mr's three cousins that graduated. Always good to see people achieve these life milestones.
 Me, Cousin, The Mr at Her Graduation

Attended a graduation dinner with the side of The Mr's family that we never see. Was really nice to meet some of them and spend time with them. Always good to see family. Spent a SUPER busy weekend at the cabin with the other side of The Mr's family for another graduation dinner/celebration. Lots of good times of laughs. Memories were made that will last a life time.
 The Mr with his cousin feeding a deer at the cabin

Sunday June 12th, I was surprised with a baby shower. Was super excited to see lots of family from out of town had drove in to celebrate with us. Means more than words can express. Super thankful to all of those that were involved in the planning. I am not exactly sure who did what, well because it was a surprise and I had no part of it. However, THANK YOU, to anyone and everyone involved.
Part of the attendees

One of the best surprises ever was a good friend from our last base showing up. She is an awesome friend and I love her to death. Seeing her meant the World to me. Friends like that only come once in a lifetime and even though we only spent a few hours together, it means so much.
With our good friends!!
Chango is already super spoiled! He ended up with a full suitcase of clothes all of his own to come home with AND we shipped back 4 large boxes that were filled to the max with all things for him. I would say about 99% of that was gifts, we purchased very little ourselves WOOHOO! Not sure where we will put everything when it arrives, guess I need to make more room for him HAHA.

These trips back home really make me homesick. Nothing compares to the United States. I know some people love being in Germany, but I would much rather be in The States. I am so ready for the day when The Mr has orders back. It may have been over 100 degrees and HOT there but I will deal with it if it means spending time with our families. Hopefully, God willing, we can make a month long trip back for the Holidays.
We dont have very many pics from the trip because we kept forgetting to get the camera out and then it ran out of memory OOPS.  Hopefully the family will email me some so that I have more.
Until then...

Friday, June 3, 2011

Bed Rest 101

So, while The Mr is out for a run I figured I can catch up on here.
My one week of bed rest was a super long week. I didn't think it was ever going to end. I literally spent all day in bed. I only got out of bed to go to the restroom and take a shower. I have never looked forward to a shower so much before. It was just nice to know I was going to be able to get out of bed for a little while. I hated not being able to get up and grab whatever I wanted from the kitchen. Thank the lord for an amazing husband. Amazing is actually an understatement. I can not stress how awesome of a job he did at taking care of me.  I am super grateful that with his job he was able to leave when needed as well. He woke up a couple minutes early in the am to make me oatmeal and fill up my water before he left for work so I didn't need to worry about anything while he was gone. Then he came home at lunch and fixed me something to eat and refilled my water again. THEN, he would come home after a day at work and make us dinner. Let me add, The Mr is an amazing cook. I feel bad that he has to eat my cooking b/c it is no where as good as his cooking. On top of all that, he kept the house clean and kept up with the dishes. I seriously couldn't ask for a better husband!
Its amazing how much you miss little things when on bed rest. I have never wanted to clean my house more. I just wanted to get up and so SOMETHING, anything really. We have a huge window in our bedroom so I can see outside and see all the beautiful weather. It would have been nice to just step outside and feel the fresh air.
I was super happy when my Doctors appointment day finally arrived. I was nervous that he might find some reason to keep me on bed rest but excited at the same time to just get out of the house. Luckily everything went perfect at the appointment. At the very end when the Dr asks if I have any questions, I was SUPER nervous to ask if I was released from bed rest and could fly back to the states. Luckily, he released me from bed rest AND said I am a-okay to fly.  WOOHOOO!!!!
Oh I guess I should update on Chango since he is probably what most people are interested in. He is doing very well. He is almost 3 lbs now. Everything looks good. Dr checked my amniotic fluid and said its normal. So Chango is good, he is a little wild in the womb some days. I am pretty thankful he either can't or just hasn't started attacking my ribs yet. I hear about how painful that is and  Im not too excited about it. He is still breech at the point as well. Once again, Dr is not concerned about it. Once we get back to Germany we will start our every 2 weeks appointments. Kind of scary knowing that we will be that close to our due date.
So I guess that is all for now. Will probably update and add pics once we get back to Germany.
For now we are going to enjoy Texas and family. Two graduations to attend this weekend, YAY!