Enjoying my family time.

Well, I'm still pregnant, so I took the pregnancy counter down. Especially since it started going up in days after my due date passed. Grrrr... (grrr about still being pregnant, not about the counter).

I am really enjoying having my best friend and mom here. We have had a lot of fun and they have been such a great big help. My floors are vacuumed, my dishes done, and Nathaniel has played Candy Land to his heart's content. We have cooked for each other and stayed up late every night playing Wii. It's good company, now if only this baby would come out!

Seriously, I just played three rounds of Wii boxing in hopes that it will put me in labor. I will let you all know how that goes.

As for pictures, I will post some soon. I just haven't taken the time to upload recent pics of me. I have to get some from Bethany's camera because she got some great ones of us at the park today and some hilarious ones of me boxing.

Gotta go, I think my mom is going to accidentally punch my t.v. Seriously!

Still here and still pregnant.

For some reason my computer freezes every time I try to update my status on Facebook, so I thought I would post on here really quickly that I'm still pregnant. I'm due tomorrow but after a few days of contractions NOTHING is happening. It's kind of disappointing, but my team is here and we are all ready to go, just hanging out until the big event happens.

Hope people are doing well. I have my mommy here and my Bethany here so I'm super busy having a good time visiting. Will update when I have news to report.

Cheers!

I bought a van!

At long last I finally bought a mini-van. I feel like I should be inducted into some sort of "soccer mom" society or something. But, whatever, at least it's taken care of!

Today was another one of those days where it felt like it was me against the world. First of all, the people at the car dealership were totally trying to take advantage of me, thinking that pregnant woman waddling in to buy a van knew nothing. They tried to jack up the price and my APR for a loan. They picked the wrong woman to try and screw over. I had my friend on the phone and basically repeated everything he said out loud so the salesman and finance guy could hear me. I said things like:
"What! You found the same exact van for 18,500 right down the street?!"
"Yeah, I know they are trying to screw me over here."
"Oh no, I don't feel uncomfortable walking out of here without buying something, it's not like I'm that desperate for a car right this second."

At one point the finance guy wanted to talk to my friend. Hee hee. I got them to drop the price by nearly $1K, drop my percent on my loan (which will drop even lower once I turn in Sam's paperwork which states that deployed soldiers get a certain APR while deployed) and I got them to take my Buick for more than they offered me. I felt pretty good. I'm sure it also didn't hurt that I mentioned to my friend on the phone that it would look bad for a business in this economy to try and screw over the pregnant wife of a deployed soldier. I'm terrible, but I needed to be shrewd.

Here are some pics of my new van!

Nathaniel enjoying the new ride.

I just realized that Nathaniel is picking his nose in this picture. Hmmm...well, it's his normal position these days, so what can I do?

I also had to call the post office to have them redeliver a box of books for my Sunday small group study. I don't know if anyone here has tried to deal with calling the post office lately but it was maddening! It was one of those voice activated messages so I had to say and spell everything and it misheard nearly everything.

"Please spell your first name for me"

"C-A-R-R-I-E"

"I have your name as Barrie, B-A-R-R-I-E, is that correct?"

"NO!"

Trying to get my apartment right was also bad. The computer got it wrong twice and then had to transfer me to customer service because it couldn't figure it out. Ugh! I felt like a commercial I saw once where the guy was trying to get through to the computer and it kept getting his info wrong until he screamed into the phone and that was when it was right.

That's about it here. Still pregnant. I need to drink some water and relax, Nathaniel had a rough afternoon and threw about four tantrums. I haven't felt the baby move much so I should just relax and focus and make sure all is well (I know all is well, I just need to relax because I've been running around instead of feeling for the baby).

Cheers!

What happens when you play said bizarre country song backwards?

You get your Buick back, your cat back and your husband back.

Well, not really all of those things, but I have been encouraged the last few days.

First of all, I was able to find Socrates the second evening he was gone. The stupid cat couldn't find his own way home and was two doors down meowing pitifully. So much for cats knowing how to get back home. This cat was close but couldn't find it. I was very happy to have him back though and I've even tolerated his bad behavior a bit more. I actually didn't kick him out of my bed this morning when he was licking my chin to wake me up.

Second, I was driving to Disneyland today and had to run a couple of errands before hand. I needed to use the atm quick and since there are few drive through ones around here I usually park right in front, crack the windows, lock the doors and leave Nathaniel where he is (I am never more than five feet from him at any point). Today when I went to crack the passenger window it actually came down! Hooray for something that wasn't working working again! Plus, none of the evil dash lights have been yelling at me lately (although I know the problems haven't fixed themselves, it's nice not to have the reminder glaring at me regularly).

Finally, Sam told me that if I call the Red Cross when I go in labor (actually, three days before) he may get a short short leave to come home. Of course, I will shoot myself if I am in labor for three days, but knowing that Sam might get a short visit home (less than a week) would be nice. Just so he can meet his son before his son is a burgeoning toddler.

So, life is going well. Disneyland was a crazy mad-house today which is weird for the end of January. I think the whole, "Get in free on your birthday" thing coupled with a new payment plan for annual passes is actually working for them. It took me almost 20 minutes just to get into the parking structure! It was nice though, we went to California Adventure and rode the kiddie rides so there were no waits and Nathaniel thoroughly enjoyed running through the water areas and getting soaked in this 80 degree weather.

Cheers!

My life is like a really bizarre Country Song right now.

It's been a weird week for me. I realized today that it's like a bad country and western song that would never make it in the real world.

First of all, my Buick is breaking down. In every Country song I've ever heard someone has a pick up truck or some souped up four wheel drive, not a Buick Century. I'm working on getting a new car and am steps closer thanks to the help of a friend, but every week I notice something else going on. Like the lights that light up my odometer don't work anymore and my front passenger window doesn't roll down. Ugh.

Second, my husband left me. Not in the real life, left me for another woman, type of leaving, but still...it might fit into some weird song.

Finally, my cat ran away. I have no idea when it happened because it happened when the sitter was here, but as of 11:30 last night I realized that Socrates wasn't anywhere to be found in my apartment. So I looked on my balcony, and he wasn't there either. I don't think I would have even noticed as soon as I did had Plato not been constantly underfoot whining and meowing like his best friend was gone. Which was/is the case. I'm so sad. I figured that he would be back by the morning waiting at the front door, but no dice. I've looked around the complex, but haven't seen him. So, I posted signs and can only hope he's not dead.

EDIT: I found Socrates! I heard a faint meowing a few minutes ago and grabbed my sandals and "ran" (more like waddled) outside and found poor Socrates down one set of apartments completely confused. He was hungry but no worse for the wear!! Hooray!!

*sigh*. Anyone want to buy the rights to my life right now? It might make a crappy song or a cheesy Lifetime movie!

Update from the land of pregnancy.

Not too much has been going on around here. I hate updating with randomness because I would like to think that this is a blog with some substance and not just updates on our cute kid and his cute behavior. Although, he is pretty adorable and when he came up with his imaginary monster friend yesterday I could have died from his cuteness. Seriously, his monster friend appeared after his bath (there was a monster in his pants that we had to chase out so it wouldn't eat his legs) and then hung out with us all day long. They ran to the car together and he sat next to Nathaniel with his seat belt on (like a good monster should). They then ran into the house together and played Candy Land (yay, I didn't have to play because Monster was playing). The cutest part was when Nathaniel got his bath last night and I watched him help Monster take his clothes off and take his diaper off and help him into the bathtub. Oh, and after supper he took Monster by the hand and they ran off to play more together.

But, as I said, I don't want to just update about my seriously cute kid.

I have talked to Sam two more times since his arrival in Germany. We can't talk much because the Army Post there doesn't have good phones hooked up so it costs an arm and a leg to make a phone call. He's doing well though and it sounds like he will get to come home for about five days after I have the baby. The goal is to get him here for the birth but he needs three days notice, which just won't happen. If I got him out too early, he would most likely miss the birth anyways because he just can't hang out waiting for the baby to arrive.

I'm doing better emotionally. I think I just needed to get through the deployment blues. I totally expect them to come back and I just need to be okay with the fact that occasionally I'm going to be sad. It's part of the cycle of deployment.

I had another appointment today and will continue to see my doctor once a week until little one appears. It was a sad appointment for me because even though I've had some good Braxton Hicks contractions this week, I am no closer to delivery than I was 8 months ago. I have hit the point in the pregnancy where I am done. It hurts to sit/stand/walk/lay down/etc. I feel huge and my temper is short. I literally wanted to kick one of my students in the head today for purposely pushing my patience. I really had to weigh the pros and cons of that one. So, to be told by my doctor that nothing is happening was just a little disappointing. So goes life.

That's about it here. Staying on top of the housework has become my main goal. That, and getting out of the house once a day. I want to go to Disneyland but I dare not go alone. It's too hard to walk and deal with Nathaniel at the same time. As I was bent over my bathtub today scrubbing I thought, "There's going to be a time when I won't be able to do this anymore." Then I realized that so many people have offered to help that I should maybe take them up on it. Of course, I think they meant help with the baby, not scrubbing my toilet. :)

I will make sure I update this thing when I actually go into labor! Promise! If not, at least I'll post my status on facebook. Cheers!

Phase two of deployment

Or are we in stage three? I'm not sure I can even keep track of each stage of this deployment (Do I count California as stage one?).

Anyways, Sam called me yesterday morning from the wonderful country of Germany. He didn't actually tell me he was leaving for Germany on Tuesday, but I figured it out by his long good-bye on the phone (the last time we could talk on our cell phones) and by the way he evaded every single one of my questions (questions I usually asked him like, "What are you doing today? Where are you?"--when hearing strange background noises). Needless to say, I was quite down this week and still am a little bit when I think about it.

I don't know why his flying to Germany makes me sadder than before. I'm not sure if it's because I can't just text him whenever I want to tell him something quick or if it's because he's even further away than before. Part of me believes I should be happier because Germany is the final training place before Kosovo and it means that the deployment is that much closer to being over. Perhaps I'm just being pregnantly hormonal and weepy.

Sam's job has changed since he first left. Before he was an Officer in Charge of a Land Team, meaning that he was supposed to go out into the communities with three or four other soldiers and meet with locals making sure things were getting done. He was so excited about this job because it meant that he was actually out doing things. When Sam was in Iraq he only got to go outside of the wire a handful of times (which I was perfectly okay with) on convoys so he felt like he wasn't really doing anything. On Sam's birthday he was told by his commander that because he was doing such a great job leading they were moving him off of his current assignment and making him the Officer in Charge of the Staff. Which means that Sam will be in the office from 8-5 every day working on things behind the scenes, not out in the community.

He was then handed a slide show and was told that he needed to brief the General in 10 minutes.

Poor Sam. It's a job promotion, which is kind of cool--especially because it means that Sam is being a rock star, but in the Army a promotion like that means nothing with pay raises, just responsibility. Sam's mad because he wanted to be out and about, not stuck behind a desk.

So, that's a Sam update. He's currently in Hohenfelde, Germany but won't be there long enough to really receive mail so I don't have an address for him. I told him to call his parents before he went overseas, but I don't know if he did that either.

Please keep praying for our family. I am still functioning okay but sometimes really have to force myself to stay positive. Thanks!