Two more days and I'm outta here!

That's right folks, I'm gonna be MIA for the next week! I just wanted to write one last blog before my big adventure.

So, the hubs called this morning. Not the best conversation we've had since he left...I absolutely broke down! Now, since many of you do not know me, I do not show emotion very well, especially sadness/crying. If need be, I can be a stone wall. But I have held it together for as long as possible. I have kept myself busy and my mind occupied for over three months now, and I just couldn't take one more second. I am so tired of this deployment and I just want to see my husband. Lets not forget that I am pregnant and hormonal and emotional anyway, so I think holding it together for three months is pretty good considering my state. But I hate that our conversation wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. Cause I know that me having a break down like that doesn't help his morale. Ugh, 145 days til I get to see him again!

I *heart* my mom! She bought me a new nifty vacuum! A dyson animal one to be exact. It's supposed to be at my house today and I can't wait to get home and use it! I have never been so excited to vacuum in my whole life. Haha!

So, I will be gone until June 9th. I will give all my wonderful followers an update on my lovely vacation (w/ pics!) when I return. Don't miss me too much!

And then the rains came

Today begins week 18 of my pregnancy, and it is day number 101 of Aaron's deployment. It also happens to be day 5 of this ridiculous rain that we've been having. Colorado is generally a pretty dry place, and in the warmer months we often have wild fire warnings. Now with all this rain it means that I don't have to pay to water my lawn, mother nature is doing it gratis. But enough is enough! After being cooped up inside for the entire winter I am ready for some fresh (dry) air! So, rain rain go away, come again some other day! I also leave for my cruise in four days...I am praying that I don't see one drop of rain while on vacay. All of this rain has made me look forward to the sunshine and sand even more. This rain has over-stayed it's welcome!

people

I am really not a people person. Most people just annoy me. And it seems that I have even less tolerance for them now that I am pregnant. Really, I just hate people in general, but some of them piss me off more than others.

I know this one person who always whines about their husband being gone. And he is only gone for a normal work day, never over night. Um, hello, I feel privileged when my husband gets to just work a normal eight hour day and come home...which is rare! Usually he works 10+ hours on a regular basis. Not to mention getting called in on the weekend, or going to the field for multiple nights, NTC for a month...and deployed for a whole year or more! And someone might argue that I knew what I was getting myself into when I married a military man, yes, in fact I did. That's why I don't complain about it. My choice is not for him to be gone, but as all you other Army wives know, you are, and always will be, second to the Army. I also have more pride in what my husband does than ordinary people, because he is a real, true hero. But please, don't complain to me about "missing" your husband for eight or nine hours, because you really have no idea what missing someone feels like. When your husband misses almost every one of your anniversaries and birthdays then come talk to me. But until then I really have no pity or sympathy for you!!!

i *heart* 3 day weekends!!!

So, the cheap-ass doctors at Front Range Orthopaedics (aka FRO) have decided to give their lovely employees a paid, three day weekend! Now, in my opinion, I think that every weekend needs to be three days, and we might as well take the whole damn week off for holidays! But anyway, that's besides the point. I have so much planned for this weekend, mostly getting R&R, and (finally) cleaning out the baby's room - which my husband has been using as his own personal army-and-hunting-gear storage facility. Guess what? His crap is being relocated to the garage, along with the hideously ugly gun cabinet that he acquired on our last trip to visit his family in NY (no, not the city, I am not that lucky...some hick-ass town with more cows than people). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a country girl at heart. After all I am from Kentucky, but I guess when you have lived away from those areas for a few years, it's just really comical when you go back to visit.

I also plan to get some yard work done (well, if it doesn't cut into my R&R time, you know I don't want to exhaust myself!). Oh, and remember the neighbor I was complaining about with the barking dog? Well, I briefly talked to her the other day and she offered to have her son mow my lawn since Aaron is gone and I am preggers. All this time I really thought she was an evil bitch, but she's actually really nice!

I am SO looking forward to all the things I plan on getting done, especially the few hours of extra sleep!

20 days and counting!

After seven unsuccessful attempts to make my 20 week ultrasound appointment, someone at radiology finally decided to make June's schedule and I will be able to write my baby blogs in either blue or pink! So my appointment is June 9th at 1830! Also, I have been feeling my little peanut moving around, mostly at night.

So, Aaron finally called! He had been on a mission for a week. That is the longest that we have gone without communication since we met. It was a very long, painful week for me. I gave him all the updates on the pups and the baby and he told me that he had been sleeping outside and hadn't showered since the last time we talked. Poor guys! It was so great to finally hear his voice!

Maggie and Macy both went to the vet yesterday afternoon. Maggie's foot was re bandaged and it must stay on for another five days, and Macy was examined and given pain meds and an antibiotic to prevent infection. She is doing much better now that she has been taking them, she's eating and walking around like normal. So $200 later (damn, I could've done some retail therapy with that money...) my babies are (almost) as good as new!

When it rains it pours.

Now I have two doggies down! My little Boston Terrier, Macy, was attacked by another dog yesterday afternoon. My poor baby has cuts all over her and she is so sore that she can barely move. I let her sleep on the pillow next to me last night and she didn't even move once. I feel so sorry for her! I cleaned and bandaged her wounds, but if she doesn't improve by tomorrow I'm gonna take her to the vet. I really hope she is okay, it would break my husband's heart if anything happened to her. I am debating on whether or not to even tell him because I know he will be upset.

I will write an update on both dogs in a few days...hopefully they both get better quick!

My Poor Pug

Oh My God!!!!! I feel like the worst Mommy alive!!!! My precious pug, my pride and joy, and current sleeping partner (until Feb anyway) has been injured....and it's all my fault! Maggie's toe nail was completely ripped out, and I am the one who did it. We were BBQing at my neighbors and she and I sat down to eat our delicious dinner and I scooted my chair forward to get situated at the table and all of a sudden I hear the most heart-wrenching squeal. It was Maggie, and blood was gushing from her foot. Of course I immediately jumped up to save her, and then I saw it....her toe nail laying right in front of my chair! How could I have been so careless? I called my friend, Lori, who works at a vet. She told me how to stop the bleeding, but also said that if it didn't stop I would need to take her to the ER vet. Luckily I followed her advice and was able to get it to stop using peroxide to clean the wound and corn starch to stop the bleeding. I bandaged it up over night and woke up numerous time to make sure it hadn't started again.

So, first thing Friday morning I called Maggie's vet, which is on post. They open at 0730. I called and hung up, called and hung up nonstop until they answered.....at 0815!!!! At which time I was told that the doctor isn't even in on Fridays! So why the hell are you even open?! Anyway, so then I had to frantically call like 10 vets before I found someone who could see her as soon as possible because I still had to go to work. We went to the vet and she cleaned the wound and re bandaged it more securely and gave her antibiotics to take for a week to prevent infection, Her nail should grow back in about two weeks.

Here my baby is $70 later:

All things baby!

For someone so small babies sure do need a lot of stuff!!!! I am going to register for my non gender specific baby gifts this weekend. Being the over-prepared person that I am, I am making a list of what items I want to put on which list (I am registering at two stores). You know, bottles from Target, wipe warmer from Babies R Us...that kinda thing, so that I don't accidentally put the same item on both lists, or forget anything. Anywho, I got the the bathing section and was astounded! There are 20...yes I said 20, different types of bath tubs! I just do not need that many options to choose from! It confuses me. It's a freaking bath tub, what is so special or different about it from all the other bath tubs? There are only so many features that a baby bath tub can have on it! So this whole process is becoming more overwhelming that I thought. Even though choosing a bath tub seems to be more complicated than it should be, I am still really looking forward to going!

Also, today marks week number 16 of my pregnancy! The half-way mark is creeping up fast (which is a good thing!). I have 16 week check-up tomorrow, which makes me both excited and nervous. My friend Darcy is accompanying me to that appointment (see I told you that I have awesome friends). And I should be finding out the baby's gender in about three weeks!

Wow I am going to be a mommy in a little over five months!

My First Mother's Day (sort-of)

I have some pretty awesome friends! They really do try to make up for my husband being gone, by helping me, talking to me and listening to me, visiting me, and sending me flowers for Mother's Day!



The fabulous Jennifer sent me lovely pink flowers (my favorite color) for my first mommy-to-be Mother's Day! It made me feel oh-so-special, and very loved! She said that she knew that Aaron wouldn't be able to since he has no internet, and she didn't want me to not get anything. But Aaron was able to call, which was good enough for me. And my wonderful mother in law sent me a card with a little cash in it! Also, several of my darling friends left me comments and text me to say Happy Mother's Day. So even though I am not technically a mommy yet, many of the sweet people in my life thought enough of me to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. And it means a lot!

Of course, you know one bad apple always spoils the bunch.....

So, I called my stepmother to wish her a happy Mother's Day. Did she even bother to say, "Oh, you too!"? No, she did not. And like most things she does or says, it pissed me off. She isn't a mother...she has no kids other than me, but I thought enough of her to call and send a card. Does she show the same consideration in return? No. Never. I could go on and on about all the things she (purposely) does to irritate me. That is another blog on another day...But I will just say, for the record, that she is jealous of me being able to have a baby, and the baby for getting so much attention. She has referred to it as "that baby" and refuses to even discuss it's existence. I am not imagining it or making it up. She is evil, plain and simple. I was not lucky enough to be blessed with a wonderful, caring stepmother who loves me like her own child. But I am still kind enough to wish her a happy Mother's Day, even though she isn't a mother and wouldn't really make a good one anyway.

Overall though, I had a great Mother's Day, filled with lots of love from the people who do, in fact, really love me!

The simple things in life, aren't always so simple!

Sometimes I manage to surprise myself!!! I completed a task that I was sure would be impossible for me...I successfully managed to turn on our automatic sprinkler system ALL BY MYSELF (with just a little assistance over the phone)!

Now this may not seem like a huge feat to everyone else, but let me just tell you that we have lived in this house for two summers now, and neither one of us has figured it out yet. And I was sure that this year I would have to call some lawn service guy to do it for me, and pay him a ton of money for a ten minute job. I guess the reason that we never figured out how to operate the damn thing is because the previous owners didn't leave any instructions or manuals or anything. And being that we both grew up in the east where it is unheard of to water your lawn (much less have a built in, timed, sprinkler system) we just didn't get it. We spent hours turning levers and knobs and pushing buttons with no avail. So finally we gave up and Aaron watered the lawn every day, twice a day, the old fashioned way. But let me just tell you that I do not enjoy yard work. In fact I hate it. So why have this fancy sprinkler system that I cannot even use? I mean it does all the work for me and even remembers to water the lawn every single day!

So, you can imagine how ecstatic I am to have figured out something mechanical that the hubs couldn't (can't really blame him though.....guns and military machinery are really more his thing). I just cannot wait until he calls and I can brag about my accomplishment! I am SO happy in fact, that I am actually going to plant snap dragons in the flower bed this weekend - I know right, me with a green thumb....who knew?? My yard just might be one of the prettiest on the block this year....well, if I can keep up this motivation!

i *heart* my life!

I would just like to say that I absolutely love my life and all those in it (give or take a few)! Even though things are not always perfect, overall I think I am pretty stinkin lucky to be me! I have an awesome husband, and awesome friends who are always there for me. I was talking to one of my other army wife friends, whose husband is deployed with mine, and she gave me a little report of what her hubby had to say about mine since they've been gone. She said that he told her that Aaron has been going around showing everyone the ultrasound pics and video of our baby. Since most of you do not know Aaron, let me tell you that this is so unlike him! He is a very private person and doesn't typically "share" things unless asked. I thought it was just the sweetest thing! He is gonna be such a good Daddy! This just absolutely made my day, y'all!

Now on to my 8 great things (these are in no specific order).

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Calls/emails from Aaron
2. Going on the Caribbean Cruise
3. Finding out the sex of my baby (4 more weeks!!!)
4. Aaron coming home for R&R and coming home for good in Feb!
5. Quitting my job
6. My family and friends coming to visit and going home to visit
7. My baby shower(s)
8. My baby being born.

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Worked (*sigh)
2. Ate waffles, which I had been craving ALL day!
3. Helped my Mom decide when to visit this summer.
4. Paid bills (*sigh, again)
5. Drove my husband's truck (cause I'm so BA in it!)
6. Folded laundry
7. Made an appointment for a massage.
8. Took my dogs for a walk.

8 Things I Love:
1. SSG Billings
2. My baby in my belly
3. My family and friends
4. Summer
5. Massages
6. My dogs (especially Maggie...okay I admitted that she is just a little more special to me).
7. Calls from the Hubs overseas.
8. My Nannie's chicken and dumplings and her candy cake.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Ride a bike.
2. Play a sport.
3. Be really good at playing the flute, instead of just okay.
4. Play the piano.
5. Speak another language.
6. Be debt-free.
7. Enjoy running.
8. Enjoy school, so that I could actually get a degree.

8 Shows I Watch:
1. Desperate Housewives.
2. That 70's Show
3. King of the Hill
4. Prison Break
5. Jon and Kate Plus 8
6. Sex and the City re-runs
7. The channel 11 morning news
8. Keeping up with the Kardashians

Let sleeping dogs lie

But what if they don't sleep?

My neighbor's dog kept me up for two hours barking, from 0130-0330. I am very tired today, and very annoyed. This isn't the first time it's happened. So what's a gal to do when she wants to get some sleep? Call the humane society. Well, that's what this gal did at least. So they are supposed to send my neighbor a letter stating that there was a complaint. We'll see if it gets better...

So, this hasn't been the best week for me. I am so glad that it's the weekend and hopefully I will get some peace.