Turmoil

     This may be strange to anyone who happens upon it, but as I don't believe anyone has really read my blog for a very long time, I don't suppose it really matters.  I guess I just need some outlet for the hurricane of feelings I am going through right now.  I don't really want to take to Facebook at the risk of sounding like one of those people who complains or just wants attention.  That's really not my goal here.

     We are moving again.  This is nothing new.  We are an Army family, and Army families move.  That is just life.  Only this time it's different.  We are moving from Alaska to Maryland...Alaska to Maryland.  I can't even begin to describe how wholly and entirely ridiculous that prospect is to me right now.  I have fallen head over heels in love with this place.  My heart has never experienced so much joy at the sight of all of this raw beauty and wilderness.  I can breathe up here, I can drive 20 minutes from my house and be in one of the most breathtaking mountain passes you could ever hope to see.  The night sky is filled with billions of sparkling diamonds and many times lit with the northern lights.  There are really no words to describe how I feel about Alaska.  I feel like I belong here.  I feel like this is home now.

And now I have to give it all up.  But it's not just having to give it up, it's having to move away from the most amazing place on earth to a city on the crowded east coast.  After Alaska, the entire east coast pretty much feels like a city to be honest.  There are no wide open spaces.  There is no raw wilderness.  The night sky is filled with the pollution of light.  People have told me I will like it.  I know they are saying this with good intentions and trying to keep me positive.  But to be very blunt, I feel like I am moving from heaven to a shit pile.  And every time someone says I will love it I feel like they are taking a handful of that shit and rubbing it in my face.  I know that is not the intention.  No, I really do!  But my heart is breaking so badly right now that this is just how it feels.  I am from the east coast.  I am well aware of what it is like.  But just like that little girl I was many years ago, looking at that picture of an alpine meadow in Denali National Park in our big book of National Parks and just knowing that is where I wanted to be, I know it really is where I want to be.

And so I have to let go.  I have to say goodbye to what is likely to be the most amazing place I will ever have the opportunity to have lived.  I have to keep it all together for my kids, for my husband, my family.  I have to be a strong Army wife, and go on to the next "adventure."  If you  read this, please don't think I'm complaining.  Isn't it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?  

It is late, and I am done pouring my heart out.  Goodnight.

Not a whole lot is new.  Mike is gearing up to take command of his first company on the 23rd, and so he is busy with inventories right now.  "Busy" is really an overstatement because that is his only job right now so he's been having four day weekends and short weeks all over the place.  It's a nice break to spend time together before he gets really busy with command duties.  I am trying to enjoy it as much as possible, because from here on out it will be pretty crazy for the next year and a half or two.  We took a short trip down to Girdwood, Alaska and stayed at the Alyeska Ski Resort there.  It was pretty nice to get away for a bit, though it was a little frustrating to watch everyone skiing and having a great time on the slopes when we couldn't (with the kids).  We still had a nice time, though.  We've been getting more and more snow.  The plows came through and widened the snow out on our road which in turn put huge snow berms in everyone's driveway.  I was super exasperated until they came along with a big tractor and plowed out the bottom of everyone's driveway and pushed the snow well back!  I think they did an extra good job on ours because I was out there glaring at them with shovel in hand...You must understand that I had originally thought I was going to have to spend my morning digging our driveway out!  I will have to take a photo of the snow piles because this was going to be no easy task.  Thankfully they remedied the situation and now our driveway is better than it's been for a while!  Anchorage is about 6 inches away from breaking a record set in the 50s.  It's been a snowy winter!  We just recently invested in some better outdoor gear since I think the last time I had snow gear of any real protection was when I was a little kid.  The right gear makes all the difference!  I had forgotten how fun it is to play in the snow, and we have been out there almost every day with Nathan just rollicking in great big drifts and sledding and having a great time!  


We went to see the official start of the 2012 Iditarod Dogsled Race.  It was a really great experience!  Last year we went to the ceremonial start in Anchorage, which is where they parade the teams through the streets and you can meet the mushers and teams if you want.  It was pretty neat, but the real start, which takes place in Willow, was a sight!  It had a much more Alaskan air.  There were people in their furs and people on their snow machines and it was just a great experience.  I got some good photos that I will try to post on here eventually.  We recently got the equipment for Skijoring with Nikita.  Basically it's a pulling harness for your dog to which you attach a tow line and then yourself with Xcountry skis...and off you go!  I can't wait to try it out for real, but we plan to find a wide open lake to do that on since Nikita has no training :-/  We had her out pulling Nathan's sled the other day, though, and she did great!  It was a blast!  She can really pull some weight when she digs in.  She was pulling Mike on the sled and he usually weighs just shy of 200 lbs!  This will be great exercise for her and a lot of fun for us, so I am pretty excited!  Tonight we plan to head out to Hatcher Pass or Talkeetna to see the Aurora.  There is a solar storm hitting earth said to be the biggest in 5 years and the sky is going to be lit up!  Mike already saw it this morning on his way to the gym.  It is normally on the northern horizon even for us, but it was right over our house, straight up!  Tonight is supposed to be extreme!  I am going to get my camera sensor cleaned and start my photography portfolio with a bang!  Apparently the sun goes through an 11 year cycle during which it comes to a head with massive solar storms.  So I read that over the next year or two into the end of 2013 there should be solar storms similar to this every month.  And we live in Alaska for this!  I couldn't be more excited!  Yes, there is that nagging in the back of my mind about radiation...hmmm... But mostly I'm excited :) 


Well, I have lots to do today!

Christmas was great fun with the kiddos!  New Years Eve and Day were uneventful, but Mike and I managed to actually stay up till midnight, which is pretty amazing.  Sometimes we feel much older than we really are.  I guess that's what having kids does to a person.  We updated our desktop computer to an iMac, so that is pretty exciting!  I was always very much a Dell person, and I still had my 6 year old Dell desktop that I got in college.  It was my first computer and it served me very well.  6 years is a long time in the technology world, though, so it was time for an update and after much deliberation and research we decided to take the Mac plunge.  So far I am not disappointed.  My only complaint would be that there does not seem to be an acceptable alternative to Quicken for the Mac platform.  I use Quicken to track all of our finances and I would be very disappointed to have to learn a whole new software system.  Because of this, we are now considering running a program called Parallel on our Mac which allows you to install Windows and use Windows programs on your Mac.  I know, what was the point of getting a Mac,right?  Well, there are still many advantages to having one.  


We have gotten a lot of snow this winter.  It has not snowed for 2 weeks now, but before this dry spell, we were getting pounded.  Places like Valdez and Cordova were getting upwards of 20 ft of snow.  We didn't get that much, but we got somewhere between 2 and 3 ft.  Then after all of that snow was dumped on us, we had a week long wind storm that blew our snow piles across our driveway and packed them down like concrete.  That was a job to break up.  Everyone around us was paying top dollar to have their driveways plowed, and we almost did until our neighbor came over to help us with a snow blower.  So, we broke up the snow into chunks and the snow blower took care of the rest.  What a blessing!  That job could have taken a good part of the day, but only took us about an hour and a half instead!  We have some really great neighbors!  


Future things to look forward to include Mike's change of command coming up soon.  He will be taking command of 545 MP Co and preparing them for deployment over the next several months.  Between now and then he starts inventories, which should be tedious for him.  I can only imagine.  On the bright side he will probably have some free time during that time where he does not have much scheduled, so we may get to spend some time together as a family before he takes command.  After that, we will see how much of him we actually get to see.  I expect he will be very busy.  I am very proud of him, though.  He always seems to have a lot on his plate at work, but that happens when your superiors know they can trust you.  It's a curse but also a blessing, I guess.  He is a good officer and soldier, and above all a good husband and father.  What more could I ask for?  


Nathan is getting big!  He is already fitting into 4T shirts and he is not even 3 yet.  I think he will be very athletic if he applies himself.  Ayla is growing like a weed, too!  Only 6 months old and already trying to push up on her knees to crawl even before she can sit up by herself!  She's a determined little girl!  She always wants to play with her big brother.  I love it when we are driving somewhere in the car and I look back at Nathan and see him holding his little sister's hand.  Melts my heart!  What a good big brother he is.  But, of course he has a little devil of a temper, too.  "No" is his favorite word right now, and he says it constantly to me and Mike.  It can be very trying on one's patience.  I just don't want to end up like one of those parents with no control over their wild kids.  We discipline him and I feel like a broken record at times, but right now we do look like those parents who don't discipline their kids when we are out.  It's not true!  Oi!  How tough this job is!


Well, it's time to get lunch for Nathan.  Maybe I'll post some photos on here next time. 

I have one or two things left to do before I am ready for Christmas!  All of the gifts are here and ready except one thing that I just have to finish up.  I have been caught up with trying to find gifts and getting the tree and decorating, but now I am going to try to focus on teaching Nathan why we celebrate Christmas.  I'm afraid he has been caught up in the excitement of cookies and lights and trees and decorations, too.  That is fine, but I want him to know the real reason for Christmas.  As I am trying to come up with traditions for us to celebrate as a family, there is one that I am going to take from my mom and that is reading the Christmas passages from the Bible on Christmas Eve.  It seems so strange trying to come up with our own traditions when I still feel like a kid myself at Christmas.  It seems so strange having kids at all when I sometimes still feel like a kid inside.  Funny how I used to think there was some kind of finite line where you suddenly grew up and felt like an adult.  Turns out I usually still feel like a kid, only I have adult responsibilities now.  I guess that's why some people always say they still feel like a kid inside, even when they grow old. 

The Winter Solstice has passed!  We are officially on our way to more daylight!  That is a pretty big thing up here.  Right now the sun is rising at 10:15 am and setting at 3:35 pm.  We have many months of cold, snow and darkness still ahead.  The darkness this winter is bearable, it's the darkness next winter that I dread.  It's nice to have Christmas lights up on the house outside.  It actually brightens the front yard so we can go out and do things in the snow in the afternoon and evening and still see.  We built a snow family the other day, I will have to take pictures and put them up on here.  Our snow piles at the sides of the driveway are beginning to get a bit unmanageable, really.  They look like the Chugach mountains, craggy and snowy and very, very tall!  Shoveling is really great exercise, though, and it's actually rather enjoyable to get outside and do some hard work.  I love yard work in the summer, so I guess shoveling is like winter yard work.  It's so much nicer to get a workout through manual labor than to go to the gym.  You don't even realize you are working out and you are accomplishing something immediately visible to boot.  

Here is a picture of our tree

I will try to get some more pictures on here soon.

   

Hello, blog!

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving with some neighborhood friends!  It was very nice to spend it with other people since it has been quite some time since we've been able to do that.  I was crazy this year and agreed to go out with some of my friends for black Friday sales.  We went to Walmart at 10pm on Thursday evening.  I have never in my life seen a Walmart so packed full of people.  I didn't have anything specific in mind to purchase, which was best because the people who do are usually the ones who pitch a tent outside the store for a few days.  How sad, to miss a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family for a bargain.  We also went to Target at midnight.  I guess now I can at least say I've done it, but I don't think I will ever be doing it again.  There were some really nice deals, I bought some blu-rays for 5 bucks a pop which is pretty much unheard of. 

Now, I am shopping for Christmas gifts.  We've set our budget and now I am just trying to figure out fun things to get for the kids.  I am almost done with Nathan's gifts, but I am stuck on stocking stuffers.  I have hardly any idea what to get for Ayla.  So, the search continues.  I am determined to get all of this done and everything wrapped so that I can enjoy the days before Christmas without having to worry about last minute shopping.  We seem to be having a heat wave of sorts.  Probably not what anyone reading this would consider a heat wave, but to us it is rather nice.  In fact, I think the temperature has even risen above freezing today.  The snow looks like it is a little melty out there.  I've decided that each year we are each going to pick out a new Christmas ornament for our tree.  We hardly have any ornaments except for bulbs and some bows and stuff, so this way we can gradually build a family collection.  I also picked out an ornament for both kids to put in their stockings so they can put them on the tree on Christmas day. 

Nathan has been driving me to my wit's end lately.  He has been saying "no" to everything whether it is warranted or not.  Questions, answers, songs, exclamations...always "no!"  Maybe I am a bad mother, but I feel like I need a break from the kids pretty badly.  I rarely ever have a moment away to myself, and it wears on me.  I can't imagine what next year is going to be like.  I guess I will pretty much find out what it is like to be a single parent.  Such is the life of a military spouse.  I sure hope God will help me through because I don't know where else I will find strength.  It would be nice to have a date night with Mike every once in a while, too, but it's very hard to trust people to watch the most precious things in your life when you see news articles daily about kids being abused in various ways by people that the parents of said kids thought they could trust.  It would be nice to be close to family.  But, on the other hand, we really have much to be thankful for.  Like this small moment I am enjoying writing this blog while amazingly both of my children are napping...at the same time!  

We went to see the Nutcracker in Anchorage again this year!  It was very enjoyable and Nathan really liked it.  Afterwards we went to McGinnley's Pub for some beef and guinness stew in a bread bowl!  Yummmmmmmmy!  Unfortunately, we didn't do our research and forgot that the light up ceremony was also that evening.  We didn't stay for it because we didn't bring proper outdoor gear, but it was very nice last year and I wish we had been prepared.  Perhaps another time.  

As you are all just beginning to get your first taste of snow, it has looked and felt like winter up here since mid-October.  The sun is rising at 9:45am and setting at 3:48pm after making a dim arc across the far southern sky.  Most of its time up it is concealed by the mountains...or clouds.  Alaska has some very wonderful things about it, but this is certainly not one of them.  Well, I do believe that is it for now.    

So, we had a nice trip to Pennsylvania.  It was great to see family and friends again, but it was also very long and draining.  After three weeks of leave, Mike had to go back to work feeling even more tired than when he left it.  We were all pretty exhausted.  Next year we are considering taking some time out for just us instead and either not going anywhere or just going somewhere in Alaska.  I will miss the family greatly, but I think we need it. 

We spent time with Mike's family and went to James and Stephanie's wedding.  We spent some time in Erie with mom and got to see some old friends there.  Eric was able to come down for a short visit, so we had a cookout on the peninsula with Gammer and Gaffer.  It was a lot of fun!  We spent some time in Sharpsville with Gammer and Gaffer and got to see Aaron's property.  We ended up running (literally while we were out on a run hahah) into an old friend in Sharpsville and having lunch with her, so that was really nice!  Sarah was going to try to make it down to see us too, but an inconvenient cold put an end to those plans :(  We went back to the eastern side of the state and celebrated Juliet's first birthday with the Swanns!  Then we celebrated Alaina's birthday the next day so we had lots of cake.  Finally after sleeping in three different beds over three weeks of travel, we got home and collapsed into our WONDERFUL bed that I missed so much!  There's just nothing like your own bed, really.  The down side is, just as the leaves were really starting to turn beautiful in Pennsylvania, we came home to bare trees and snow in the forecast.  It was like fast-forwarding through Fall, which is just not OK with me.  

Now we have been home for a couple weeks and I am getting back into our routine again.  I got to spend a fun night with some of the neighbor ladies playing dominos and cranium.  It was some much needed time away from the kiddos, though I love them more than anything.  Now my friend Megan has me reading "Twilight" because I agreed to go see "Breaking Dawn" with her in November and she wants me to know what is happening.  I can't say I'm very impressed, but it's not wholly unentertaining.  You never know until you give something a try, anyway.  I've been trying to keep myself in a good mood, but with winter darkness encroaching in on us and Mike's impending deployment next fall, I have to admit I've been having some down days.  I really need to not think about it too much, but you probably don't have any idea how hard that actually is.  

The kids are doing great.  I was happy to get them back into cloth diapers after three weeks of disposables while we were traveling.  There's really nothing fun about diapering, period, but when it comes down to it I really wish I had done cloth sooner because I much prefer it to disposables.  I am attempting to start potty training with Nathan, but I can already see this is going to be a big challenge.  That's probably an understatement, really.  Nathan is already in 3T clothes, and they fit him pretty well for the most part!  His legs still aren't quite long enough for 3T pants in most cases, but I think that it's only a matter of a short amount of time.  We had to buy him a whole winter wardrobe when we got home, coming from shorts and T-shirts in 70 degree weather to long pants and sweaters in 30 degree weather.  So, of course, we made a stop at Once Upon a Child...my favorite used kid's clothes store.  I have to admit, it's probably because I prefer to buy brands like Carter's and OshKosh, but we can get him a ton of barely used clothes for a 3rd of the price we would have to pay for new.  I should check out Goodwill, but in my experience there tends to be a lot of grungy stuff to sift through before you may possibly find something worth your time.  Ayla is getting bigger and bigger.  I packed away her 0-3 month clothes and all her cute little summer dresses that I only got to use for those couple weeks :(  She's back in fuzzy sleepers again, the practical option for cold weather and ease of diaper changing.  I've never been one to use impractical baby clothes very much, so I always find it funny when people have their newborns dressed up in little pants and shirts and socks and shoes and an assortment of other things (little stockings for girls).  It cracks me up because I remember when I thought that kind of thing was going to work, but ended up realizing very quickly that a onesie or sleeper is SO much easier.  Babies don't need shoes, and who really wants to clean poop off of a little pair of stockings, or attempt to keep a pair of socks on a baby's feet.  So, sleepers and onesies it is.  I know, how boring!  

Well, I best go grab a shower while I have the chance!  More to come later!          

If you don't like:

craters in your yard
yellow or bare spots in your grass
poop in your yard
hair in your clothes
chew marks on your furniture
chewed up shoes or other miscellaneous articles
giant vet bills
slobber marks on your glass doors

you should probably not own a dog.  If you do like this stuff, I really don't understand you.  I wish I had known better, but we all make mistakes.  And just to set the record straight, you are allowed to not be a dog person or a cat person or whatever; and no, that does not make you a horrible human being.

Well, I survived!  Nathan was a very good boy while Mike was gone, so I am grateful.  I was very happy to pick Mike up from the airport on Saturday, though!  I think everyone was happy that day in this family!  So, anyway, Mike had to go to work today, but tomorrow starts ten days off for him, so I am excited about that.  We are planning a trip down to Seward which should be fun!  Hopefully we will finally get to see a bear..though I would prefer not to see one too close up.  I can't believe we haven't seen one yet!  I'm so mad because everyone keeps saying how many bears they have seen and we've been to Denali and down to the Kenai Peninsula already and haven't seen more than some bear scat and a few tracks. 

Last Thursday I went to an FRG cookout.  I was a little worried at first because it was the first time I tried taking the kids out by myself other than to the store.  It turned out fine, though, and I got to meet some people.  I think Nathan had fun, too.  I took a big bowl of potato salad, and when I got there I saw that someone else had already brought a big bowl of potato salad, too.  I thought, oh no, now I'm going to be bringing most of this huge bowl home with me, but when I went to leave there wasn't even a spoonful left!  Most of the other bowl was intact, so I guess people really must have liked my potato salad (actually mom's potato salad)! 

I met some neighbors down the road from Pennsylvania the other week!  It's surprising how many people we've met from Pennsylvania up here.  Anyway, I was out for a walk with the kids and they wanted to meet the baby so that's how we started talking.  Unfortunately, they are planning to move soon to be near their grandkids back in the lower 48.  It seems like a lot of the nice people I meet up here are getting ready to move away.  It kind of sucks, but I should be used to that by now.  They offered to help out with the kids while Mike was gone if I needed it, and I thought that was very nice!  A lot of people in my neighborhood seem to be much more friendly and neighborly than I have ever seen elsewhere.  It's really nice because it seems like a lot of places I have been, people tend to keep to themselves.  Up here people wave to you and say "hi" instead of looking the other way.  That must be an eastern thing or something.  

Our garden is doing great!  We picked like 12 zucchinis yesterday!  The beans need to be picked again, and I have been freezing veggies because we can't keep up with eating them!  It's really wonderful to be able to go outside and pick a fresh zucchini and turn around and cook it up for dinner!  We bought an upright freezer to put in the garage, so I can actually freeze things now and have a place to put them!  I have seen a lot of canning kits at stores, and I've been contemplating getting started out on that, too.  I've wanted to for some time now, but I never really had anything to can before.  Well, I better go get lunch ready for Nathan   

So, I am finally sitting down to update this blog!  Don't worry, lack of any updates recently has not been because I no longer want to blog or anything...rather, I haven't had a single moment to do so.  Well, I am lying, I actually have had a moment or two here and there, but generally I choose to sleep or do something that really needs to be done.  I thought having one kid was exhausting, but I was wrong.

So, Ayla Rose Henriques was born on July 3rd at 3:17 PM.  She was 8lbs 13oz and 20 and 1/2" long.  There, all of the stuff that people usually want to know in a nutshell, hahah.  At any rate, after my traumatic labor and delivery with Nathan, I never thought I could accomplish what I did with my daughter.  I labored at home until I was about 8 cm dilated (not that I actually knew that, but that is what they said when I finally went into the hospital).  I was in labor from early that Saturday morning until 3:17 pm Sunday, but most of it was not really that bad.  I used yoga breathing to relax and get through the pain.  I did not have any pain meds, and I was able to choose to labor in the way that I saw fit (thank you Mat-Su hospital and my doctor!!!) which was non-negotiable in my mind anyway.  When things were still moving along a bit slowly, my doctor finally broke my water and within probably a half hour my beautiful little girl was born.  I want to point out that I did not give birth on my back, and if I have any more children, I will never give birth in that position again.  Ladies, especially those of you who have not had children yet.  Please, don't make my mistakes.  Make sure you are in charge of how things go, do things the way you feel most comfortable, and above all LISTEN to your body.  Don't let a doctor tell you otherwise.  I had a fourth degree tear with my son having been induced and giving birth on my back with nurses TELLING me when I should push and when I shouldn't.  I had absolutely NO tearing giving birth NATURALLY to my daughter on my hands and knees and doing things the way I saw fit.  Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world.  And to think, I almost went with the care of a doctor who suggested a C-section at my very first prenatal visit.  Anyway, I guess you can tell I am pretty passionate about this.  It took me upwards of 3 very painful months to heal after giving birth to my son.  I was mowing the lawn 1 week after giving birth to my daughter!  And by the way, being induced hurts at least 10 times worse than natural labor.  It should be a last resort, in my opinion.

Anyway, my mom came up for the occasion.  She arrived just in time on Saturday evening of the day I went into labor.  I met her at the airport with a hello and oh by the way I'm in labor right now hahah.  I am so grateful for all of her help.  If you think one baby turns your world upside down, the second one really throws you for a loop!  Mom stayed for a couple weeks to help out and just recently left, which brings me to the present.  Unfortunately, Mike had to run off to Thailand for the next 2 weeks, so I am on my own with the two kiddos and feeling very overwhelmed and SUPER tired.  Mom was originally going to stay a little longer, but the cost of changing her airline tickets turned out to be outrageous so that didn't work out.  It's really amazing how much of a difference it makes to have Mike home in the evenings to help out with the kids.  I really realize that since he's not here right now.  Speaking of the kids, I hear Ayla right now, so it appears I shall have to cut this blog a bit short.  Until next time (whenever that may be)         

We've been pretty busy lately, which is why I haven't been writing on here much.  We painted Nathan's room and it looks really good.  I'm so happy to have it done.  This weekend we are going to paint the guest room, but I have to be careful that I don't overdo it as my doctor is going to be away for a few days and I don't want to go into labor while he is gone :-/  Not that there wouldn't be another doctor available to cover down, but I picked my doctor for some pretty specific reasons so I really prefer it be him when the time comes.  Last weekend Mike ran a half-marathon.  He did a great job, he was in like the top %20 for time overall I think out of well over a thousand people.  I can't remember for sure, but that kind of thing comes pretty naturally to him.  He didn't even train for it beyond his regular PT for work so I'm very proud of him!  We also got our Costco shopping done for the month and had birthday portraits taken of Nathan.  They are pretty nice only Nathan was way overdue for a nap at the time so he is a bit zombie-like in some of them lol.  He smiled for some, but his smile is only a halfhearted attempt at his normal smile.  They still turned out nicely.  We finished some projects around the house, and after this weekend I will be able to cross the last big project off of my list of pre-baby things to get done. 

There is only a little over two weeks until I'm due, but I wonder if she is going to cooperate or not.  I scheduled a tour of the hospital birthing center so that I can get an idea of what to expect when I do go in.  The nurse at my doctor's office says they have birthing tubs that you can labor in and everything, so it sounds really nice!  They don't allow you to deliver in them, but I am ok with that I guess.  Mom is going to be getting here on the 2nd, so I hope the baby waits at least until after that.  Then the adventure begins.  I am still not sure how I am going to handle two little kids...especially since soon after mom leaves, Mike has to go to Thailand for work for like two and a half weeks.  It's going to be crazy trying to manage by myself for that time, but I'm no stranger to getting through seemingly impossible situations as my fellow military wives well know.  When he gets back he can take 10 days permissive TDY that they allow when a baby is born, and then soon after that we go on leave and travel to Pennsylvania for almost a month so I will just have to stick it out.

It's strange, when I started writing this I felt like I had a ton of things to say, but now I feel just about talked out.  Well, Nathan is taking a nap so I guess I can go try to accomplish something that would otherwise be impossible while he is awake.   

Memorial Day weekend was a very busy weekend for us.  It's funny how you can get some time off and take a small "vacation" but it ends up being much less relaxing than it should be.  After giving Nathan vitamin C all week and taking Airborne every day for myself, we were feeling well enough by the weekend to go on our little camping trip we had planned.  So we packed up our things and headed north on the Parks Highway to Denali National Park.  I was very excited as Denali is one of the top National Parks I've always wanted to visit!  I never really imagined I would one day be able to make a 3 hour drive from my house to get there, how crazy is that!  For those of you who don't know, I've had a goal for many years now to visit all of the National Parks in the United States...we will see, I have a lot more to go.  Anyway, on our way up we had many spectacular views of Denali, or Mt McKinley as many people call it.  It was a wonderfully clear day and the mountain was highly visible, but I figured we would be able to take plenty of pictures when we reached the main entrance to the park farther north so I didn't bother stopping anywhere.  Well, it turns out that you can't actually see Denali from the main part of the park where we stayed.  I was very disappointed, especially since on our way back down, the mountain was almost completely concealed in clouds!  I have been kicking myself since, but I figure we will likely make it up there again a few more times before we leave Alaska.  
Anyway, we made it up and set up camp in the campground.  I was happy that I had had the foresight to buy some firewood in the valley before we left because up there they were selling these tiny bundles for $8!  They weren't even big enough to burn for an hour.  They must make a killing on that, though, because there is really nowhere to go to get wood up there unless you already have some with you.  Same with every other convenience, which is why we really thought it out to make sure we had most everything we would need so we wouldn't have to pay the ridiculous inflated prices.  When I checked in at the campground, I was informed that just the day before there had been a grizzly just down the road from there.  As though I weren't already on edge enough about bears.  Thankfully, Congress made it legal to carry a loaded weapon in National Parks a few years back, so we brought our .45-70 with us.  However, there really aren't that many problems with bears and they have never had any serious bear related incidents in that park.  Still, I didn't want to be the first.  On that topic, I had a serious need to use the restroom at around 2am the first night, and even though it could hardly be called dark out at the time, if someone happened to see me creeping up to the restroom they probably had a good laugh because I was very skittish about the whole thing hahah.  

We did a little hiking and looked around at the various visitor's attractions in the main area of the park.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring Nathan's back carrier which would have made hiking much easier.  However, being almost 8 months pregnant, I am in no real shape to be doing any serious hiking myself, so even if we had the back carrier we probably wouldn't have done much more.  We saw some snowshoe hares and a moose with two newborn calves.  It was rather hot up there, in the 80s or so the first day.  The second day was pretty comfortable, but we've developed a new definition of hot now that we've been through an Alaskan winter.  We had a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows.  It was a little miserable trying to get Nathan to settle down at night and go to sleep, but for the most part we had a pretty good time.  Here are some pictures from the trip:

 

        

  

The last picture is supposed to be Denali, but it is shrouded in clouds and all you can see are the mountains in the foreground.  Oh well, maybe next time. 

On Memorial Day we finally decided to buy a patio furniture set and had it set up in time to have dinner out on our deck.  Mike grilled pork chops and it was really nice to be able to eat outside.  Nikita was certainly loving it!  We also bought paint for the two remaining rooms we want to paint.  Maybe we will be able to get to one of them this weekend.  We will probably do Nathan's room first, and then the guest room.  Thankfully, they are much smaller than our bedroom was so it shouldn't be nearly so much work!  I am anxious to get them done, but I am not looking forward to all the taping and mess that always comes with painting.  It can be such a pain and I'm sure Nathan will be trying to get into everything this time since he is walking.   

So I finally uploaded pictures from the camera onto the computer.  I know I promised iditarod pictures a long time ago and never posted them because I was being lazy, so here are some of them now!

I would upload more pictures right now, but for some reason it's taking seven years just to upload one, so this will have to do for now. 

Wow, what a busy weekend!  It seems like it just started and then all of the sudden it is over already.  We celebrated Nathan's birthday, and I was looking at pictures even from just back at Christmas and realizing how much he has grown.  I can't believe how quickly time goes, and I have to keep reminding myself to try to enjoy every last bit of it, even the tantrums and bad days that I know some time in the not too distant future I will end up missing.  When you are a kid, it feels like you have all the time in the world.  A year seems like forever, until suddenly you are an adult and time is just flying past and a year goes by like a day.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our little boy's birthday.  I remember hating when mom used to say I would always be her baby, but now I know what it feels like.  

  He had a fun time I think.  We built him a sandbox and got him some toys to play with in it and he loves that.  Unfortunately, I think we are all coming down with a cold which really irritates me because we want to go camping this weekend.  The first long weekend that Mike has had since January that has not been interrupted by the Army in some way.  Maybe it will pass quickly and we will still be able to enjoy the weekend.  Somehow, I doubt that is how it will happen :(

Well, I have to do book keeping stuff today, and sew a patch on Mike's uniform.  Kind of boring after all the excitement this weekend. 

Today has been one of those days...you know, the kind that you feel like you will explode at any minute because Murphy's Law is in full effect and everybody seems to want to make your life miserable all at once.  Ok, maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but when you're pregnant and your hormones are all messed up, even something little can annoy the heck out of you.  Nathan got up this morning with a smile on his face.  I thought that meant it was going to be a good day.  Well, I was wrong.  First, he refused to eat his breakfast and screamed to high heaven for the majority of the morning.  Then, I went outside to spread some more soil on the garden as I am trying to fill it in and make it as much of a raised bed as I can.  While outside, Nikita barked continuously at me and attempted to get into the garden numerous times because what I was spreading was somewhat stinky with organic matter etc.  I am not entirely sure why we have a dog.  I can't help but realize over and over and over again what disgusting creatures they are.  They are literally drawn to the stinkiest, nastiest most repulsive things in this world so that they can either eat it or roll in it.  Maybe that's just my dog?  Anyway, it didn't help that my nerves were already frazzled due to Nathan's morning fit, and Nikita just made it worse with her barking.  As soon as I put the empty dirt bags in the trash bag we keep outside, she proceeded to drag them out and begin chewing on them.  In short, it seemed to me like she was doing everything in her power to piss me off...at least that is how it seemed, but of course she is not that smart.  So, later on at lunch time, I once again had the wonderful experience of dealing with a Nathan screaming fit.  This time it was over coleslaw.  Who doesn't like coleslaw?  That lasted longer than any normal person's patience would ordinarily hold out.  Fortunately, we parents know we are no longer ordinary in the patience department.  You can't survive that way.  Thank God we love our children more than life or this would not be possible.  Well, I don't want to write an entire blog of complaints, but I felt like venting a bit anyway.

Over the weekend, we went down to Anchorage to take care of some errands.  It was nice to get out of the house and out of Wasilla.  I haven't been going much of anywhere lately with gas prices the way they are.  We went to the case sale at the commissary, then we went to get Mike measured for the tux he is going to wear at James and Steph's wedding.  We stopped at Babies R' Us because I wanted to get these bibs I had seen a long time ago that have a little pocket for catching food.  They are pretty cool.  They are rubber, so all you have to do is wash them off after a meal, and the little pocket catches a bunch of food that usually either ends up in Nathan's lap or on the floor.  Then we went to the BMW shop to drool over motorcycles that we can't afford hahah.  Then we did our Costco shopping for the month, and poor little Nathan was very tired at this point.  He is down to one nap a day, but he usually takes it around 1 and we had been out since about 830.  He also woke up early that morning, so that combined with all of the running around and no nap made for a very tired little boy.  But, of course he fell asleep on a ten minute drive between stores in Anchorage, but when we actually started the 45 minute drive home where he could have had a nice chunk of a nap, he stayed awake until we were 10 minutes from home.  So, we managed to get quite a few things accomplished over the weekend, which always feels nice. 

I hope to upload all of the pictures from the camera tomorrow, so I should be posting some that I promised I would.  I've been putting it off because we have like 3 memory cards full and I have to sort and organize them and all of that jazz.  Nathan's birthday is this weekend, and I need a memory card empty so I can take pictures! :)  Well, it's dinner time and I'm famished!

I have all of these ideas for projects that I want to do around the yard, but most of them involve lifting heavy rocks, or digging out large chunks of weeds with a shovel.  I've tried some of them, but then I start breathing heavily and get all tired and I think maybe I should take it a little easier.  It's very aggravating being pregnant.  It makes you feel like you can't do anything for yourself.  I find I usually need to stop and tell myself I should wait for Mike to get home so he can help out with the heavy stuff or something.  Those of you who are reading this blog know me well enough to know that is totally against my character.  I am a very independent person by nature, and nothing aggravates me quite so much as having to step aside and let someone else take care of something that I am usually fully capable of doing myself.  Well, I've reined myself in to a certain extent, especially when I can feel my heart rate going up too high since I know that can be harmful to the baby.  Oh how I long to be back to my normal self again.  I'll have to wait another year and a half or so for that since it doesn't seem to happen while I'm nursing a baby.  It's almost funny because I can remember when I was pregnant with Nathan I had no idea what to expect postpartum, so I had this ridiculous idea in my head that as soon as the baby was out everything with my body would be pretty much normal again.  Hahah.  I know better now.  I'm not sure why nobody told me otherwise...  Perhaps I didn't ask, I don't really remember, but it seems that my mom at least would have tipped me off to the fact having had six children herself and being no stranger to the long road of postpartum "recovery."  I guess everyone is different, too.  It seems to take me longer than some.  I think a good way to look at it is, it took your body 9 months to get to the way it is when you deliver so it will take your body at least 9 months, maybe more, to get itself back to "normal"...or at least the new definition of normal after pregnancy and childbirth.  Someone told me that, maybe mom, and it makes sense to me.  Unfortunately, I am not a very patient person when it comes to things like that. 

So, I started this new project in the yard.  I am going to take some rocks that used to be around the fire pit and line some of our "landscaping" features with them.  It's going to look very nice when I am done.  I don't think the people that owned this property before us had it landscaped too badly, but it had too much time unattended during a very rainy summer.  Everything became weedy and grown up.  They also used smaller rocks than I would have to line the landscaping that I am going to fix with big rocks.  Anyway, We have done a lot of work in the yard since we moved in, and it is really coming along nicely.  Some things are going to take a little longer to fix than others.  There are areas that need to be seeded with new grass, and the flowers I planted in the front flower bed will probably take a year or so to establish themselves before they actually bloom.  The one thing they did a horrible job on is the fire pit.  It was hideous, but we are fixing that slowly.  Unfortunately, Nikita picked that area as her favorite spot to make messes all winter, and they are too wet and squishy to pick up so I guess they will just have to serve as good fertilizer for the new grass seed we will plant.  

We had frost again last night.  I really wanted to get the garden in this weekend, but I am afraid we will have to wait at least another week.  I can't trust the weather report because they consistently say it will only get down to 38 or something overnight, and then it gets down to 30 instead.  Our zucchini and bean plants are getting so big, they are more than ready to be transplanted.  The tomatoes need some more time, and so do the lettuce and herbs.  I am very excited, I think we will have a good zucchini harvest, and the beans should do well too assuming they don't get eaten by pests.  I already have plans for making zucchini bread with fresh zucchini!  My herbs are going to be in planters along our deck railing so I can grab fresh herbs whenever I need them while I'm grilling!  It's going to be great!  We are going to spread manure this weekend in the garden so at least it will be ready when we finally can plant.  I have to put up a fence to keep Nikita and a certain little boy from playing in it, but that shouldn't be too hard.  We have a bunch of leftover scrap wood from disassembling a set of steps that were randomly in our back yard when we bought the place.  They used to be the steps for the back door, but the people who lived here put a deck in instead, and they just set the steps down in the back yard near the fence.  I don't know why they didn't just disassemble them and use the wood.  Anyway, the skinny pieces that used to be part of the railing system are great for my little fence stakes, and also for tomato stakes when we plant our tomatoes.  There is also some wire mesh stuff that I am going to use for the fence.  Wait, steaks or stakes?  Something told me it isn't supposed to be steaks...  that sounds too much like a nice slab of beef :)  

Nathan's birthday is coming up!  I can't believe he is going to be two years old!  We are going to use some of our scrap wood to build him a sandbox.  It may be a sand and dirt box, actually.  Then we will get him some toys to play with in it.  I think he will love that!  I have this idea of sandboxes being dirty, nasty places where kids pee and puke and stuff, but I think that is more in a public sandbox.  We will build a lid to keep Nikita out when it isn't being used, so she won't be able to mess it up.  I never had a sandbox growing up, but we had an area underneath the pine trees that had pine needles and dirt that served almost the same purpose.  We used to play with tonka toys and little toy pickups and shovels in there.  I remember building roads and making construction zones.  It was great fun!  Hahah that just reminded me of raking little roads in the newly fallen leaves and riding our bikes around pretending to be in cars.  Having kids is the best, you get to go back and remember all of these fun things to do and it's almost like being a kid again yourself.  Nathan managed to get his shoes wet and muddy yesterday, so we went out in our bare feet and it was great.  Until now it has been too cold for it, but I think it's ok now.  We did stay in the front yard, though, even though we have Nikita's messes cleaned up, I prefer not to be surprised!  That reminds me, there is a big pile of moose poop in the front that I have to clean up.  Anyway, the neighbor came over and we were talking, and then I was laughing to myself wondering what she must be thinking of these crazy people in their bare feet.  Wow, this blog is super long...I think it's time to stop!  I'm so happy the weekend is almost here!         

We worked on our garden area over the weekend and got it mostly ready for planting.  We are going to get some dirt and fertilizer to fill it in because it is a raised bed sort of thing.  Our zucchini and beans are ready for planting, but I am not convinced we've had our last frost.  I also picked up all of the trash in the yard and it looks SO much better!  The yard is really coming a long way from it's sad, wintery state.  It is starting to dry up some and I did some raking which got rid of a lot of debris.  There are some sticks and stuff that need to be cleared up before it's back to normal, and the fire ring area has a long way to go.  I need to get some grass seed and seed some areas down.  Nikita has a ridiculous habit of taking individual bits of her food and pawing at random sections of our lawn to "bury" said food.  It greatly irritates me.  I often wonder why we ever got a dog, they seem to be more trouble than they are worth.  Anyway, we have several little "scars" in our lawn due to this fact, and they need to be repaired.  Ok, I'm not really that concerned about having the perfect, manicured golf course lawn like some people do.  I do like to have a somewhat decent looking piece of grass though.  

We went to a yard sale over the weekend and found some baby girl clothes!  I am starting to get excited.  It's funny how being pregnant is supposed to be all exciting and stuff, but you don't really start to think about the reality of the fact that you're going to have a new little person until you are getting close to your due date.  That is how it is for me, at least.  It doesn't become totally real until that baby comes out, and then it's like WOW!  hahah, but buying a couple of little pink baby clothes made me start thinking about it and how happy it makes me, even with all the discomfort of pregnancy.  So, I plan to do some more yard sale picking before she comes because people are having them all over the place and everyone is selling baby clothes!  I can get a gently used Carter's sleep sack for $1 or less where it costs like $8 at Carter's!  It's awesome!  

Yesterday, I took Nathan to a free performanc of Sesame Street Live on post courtesy of the USO.  Well, Mike and I thought he would really like it because he is all about singing and dancing and stuff.  I don't know if he got up on the wrong side of his bed or what, but he was not a happy camper at all.  He screamed and kicked and had absolutely no interest in looking at the stage at all.  I finally had to leave early with him because he just wasn't behaving.  I guess he is my son after all, I never went in for things like Sesame Street when I was a kid either.  Of course, I grew up without tv...which is what he is doing too.  The only thing he liked about the whole thing was a little light up toy they were handing out as you went in.  It spins and has lights and he is all over that.  

Tonight I am going back down to post for a spouses' hail and fairwell hosted by the colonel's wife.  I only know one other person who is going to be there :-/  Hahah we will see, hopefully I can manage to not be too socially awkward.  I need to get out and meet some people anyway.  Also, it gives me a chance to get out of the house for a little me time.  I am going to put some ham and split pea soup in the crock pot for dinner, so Mike won't have to worry about that when he comes home.  I only wish I could have some of it, too, but there will be leftovers since I am making a double batch :)  We had a ham over the weekend as our late Easter dinner, and now we have the delicious leftovers to eat.       

My zucchini and beans are sprouting!  Hahah it's exciting!  I also planted the hostas in the front flower bed.  I think I will need to get some more because I want them to come in nice and full.  I used this fish fertilizer that stinks super bad but it should be good for them.  Man does it stink!  I think I will plant some more flowers today, we will see.  Mike got me a strawberry hanging basket for the back deck that I need to plant.  It's very hard to gauge when the last frost is going to be around here.  I thought we were done, but just the other night it was below freezing again.  It is supposed to be a nice day so I would like to be outside if I can.  There is also a lot of trash to pick up in the yard from a long winter of strong winds blowing everyone's garbage cans over.  I should take care of that, too, as it is driving me nuts. 

Well, Mike finally comes home today after a whole week away.  I will be so happy to have him back!  I can't remember how I survived 13 months apart from him, I don't want to remember.  I hope I never have to do it again, but that's probably not going to be the case.  There are a lot of things about being a military family that are impossible to imagine, but there are a lot of good things, too.  Strangely enough, I can't really imagine life any other way.  I don't think I will be unhappy when it's all over, though.

So, I was on craigslist the other day looking for a bookshelf because we have a rather cruddy one that needs replacing.  Anyway, I saw some adds for yard sales this weekend and I am thinking about doing some picking around.  Craigslist is the thing up here in Alaska, by the way.  Everyone loves it and uses it for EVERYTHING up here.  It's almost comical.  When we were first moving up here and looking for houses, we were told to check craigslist because, yes, people list their real estate on there too.  Anyway, I am on the hunt for some baby girl clothes and the one yard sale said fill a bag of baby clothes for $5 which sounds pretty good to me.  I have a lot of neutral-ish baby clothes from when Nathan was smaller, but I guess I may like to dress this little baby like a girl sometimes...not that I really go in for stereotypes or anything.  I hated pink when I was little, but now I like it.  It's really just a personality thing, not a gender thing.    

Mike said he would watch Nathan on Saturday so I could get away and have some time alone.  That sounds really good to me except that I want to spend some time with him after he's been gone all week.  I think I will probably take him up on it, though, because I do need a little time away from the little guy.  I love him with all my heart, but it takes a lot of patience to be a parent, and a little time away from everything once in a while is a good thing...especially with the new one due soon.  It will be back to having a baby with me virtually 24/7.  So, I am thinking about hiring a doula for my labor and delivery this time.  A doula is like a labor coach, kind of.  Anyway, I am having a lot of anxiety given my previous experience, and I think it may be a good thing to help me manage everything.  I have to talk to Mike about it, and I may ask my doctor for some recommendations.  The thought of a c-section really scares me, but a repeat of last time scares me too.  There are so many things I want to do differently this time, I only wish I had known the first time around.     

Another week has begun!  This morning I planted some of my seeds for our garden.  I know, I'm pretty late getting these started, but I have a good feeling about it.  I planted some oregano and chives for my herb garden and some lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes and green beans for my veggie garden.  Way late on getting the tomatoes started, so we will see how that turns out.  We got some hostas for the front flower bed and I plan to get some collumbine and lily of the valley to go in there, too.  It is so shady at the front flower bed so I have to go with shade loving flowers and plants. 

Gas up here is about $4.13 a gallon, yuck!  I have been trying not to drive to much lately, naturally.  Sometimes it gets boring being stuck at home, though, so we do go out occasionally.  Most of our back yard is melted and the water seems to be draining into the soil.  It did rain today, but not a whole lot so I am hoping that we will be able to do some yard work this weekend or next.  We cleaned out the garage, and there is a mouse in there!  We did know about it before, but I guess we just didn't take care of the problem till now.  Anyway, we got some traps and have them set, and we also got rid of anything it could hide behind or under for the most part.  That little mouse better watch out because I will squish it if I see it again. 

I am thinking about preping the guest room to be painted this week, and maybe Nathan's room, too.  I can get all of the taping out of the way, and that way all we have to do is move some furniture and paint when we are ready.  I would also like to finish Nathan's toy box.  We have it mostly done, we just need to put some lid supports on so he doesn't pinch his fingers, and I would also like to paint it.  Now that the weather is warmer I have to start thinking about all of these things before I get too big and clumsy to do them!  Well, I should probably start dinner.

I finally got a sewing machine!!!  I am so excited and bursting with ideas of all the things I can do with it, I don't know why I waited this long!  It is a Singer and it works like a charm.  I took a chance the other day and attempted my first project, a fitted cloth diaper.  It didn't turn out too bad, but let's just say I need some more practice.  I guess it didn't really help that I had to draft my own pattern from scratch.  I also learned that I hate sewing elastic!  It was fun, though, and it was great to try out my new machine!  I think this is the best birthday present my husband has gotten for me yet :) 

It has been getting above 50 almost every day lately, and can you believe that 55 degrees actually feels hot to us?  It's completely crazy how the human body can acclimatize itself to crazy cold weather to the point where 30s and 40s feels warm, and 50s feels hot!  Nikita is even lying around the yard panting like it's mid July or something.  It's kind of funny.  Our yard is thawing out, but we have some low parts in our back yard that are turning into swamps.  I hope that once all the snow melts, the swamps will dry up and we can get some good grass again!  I have been spending a lot of time outside with Nathan, and he just loves playing in the dirt.  It's great to be able to let him run around and get some of his energy out now!  Unfortunately, with warmer weather we are seeing the first of the mosquitoes, and they are crazy big!  If you know what a mosquito hawk is, think of that as the general size of an Alaskan mosquito.  I'm not even kidding, they are scary.  I am used to hearing the high pitched humming in my ear when one of our normal, lower-48 mosquitoes comes around, but these things don't make that noise, it's more like a low droning!  I hope they are not too bad this year.  I think we were spared last year because of all the rain we had and the summer stayed pretty cool. 

Well, I am officially in the third trimester now.  I am not looking forward to labor again, but I am so looking forward to not being pregnant.  I'm not sure I can handle this again, we may just end up with two kids.  I seriously hate being pregnant.  Hah, who knows?  Pretty soon Mike gets to play Major again and take over doing S-3 stuff.  He had to do that for a chunk of time in February and March, and it wasn't fun for him or any of us.  Longer days and it's not like he is getting Major's pay or anything hah.  Well, anyway, now he will have to do it again as the current S-3 is moving up to XO and there is going to be a gap of time before the new S-3 gets here.  Not looking forward to that, but I guess it is good work experience for him.  It looks like he will take company command early next year some time. 

So the other day we were out in the yard scooping up the thousands of piles of Nikita poop that had accumulated all winter when Mike said he had heard a commercial on the radio for a business that actually scoops poop!  Hahah I just thought that was funny!  Apparently they advertise something like this: "Is your yard a dirty mess from not cleaning up after your pets all winter?  We can help!  Call blah blah blah etc..."  Hilarious!  Now, granted I do not particularly enjoy scooping poop, but really?  You'd have to be lazy to actually pay someone to come do something that you can do perfectly well with a good shovel and a big bag.  I bet they get business, though.  Let me tell you, the last thing you want to do when it's -20 and the wind is blowing is to go out in your yard digging through the snow for your dog's excrement...so it really does pile up over the winter.  We have most of our yard cleaned, we just have to wait for the rest of the snow to melt and parts to dry up a little to get the rest.  Ok, enough about dog poop hah. 

We did spring cleaning on the interior of the Santa Fe the other day.  I always love to clean out a vehicle after winter!  They get so dirty from all the snow and salt and junk, it just looks so nice when you finally finish vacuuming and wiping everything down with Armorall.  Maybe that's weird, but I love to make something nice and clean and fresh smelling, especially when it's been really dirty!  Next we have to do the Tundra.  It didn't get as dirty, though, cause Mike uses the Santa Fe for the commute to work.  I want to clean out the garage, too, but Nathan doesn't like to cooperate when we are in the front yard.  He has a bad habit of running towards the road when a car is coming!  I hope that doesn't last!  The garage really isn't that dirty, it just needs a good sweeping and some straightening up.  

I have a pot roast on, and the smell is making me hungry!  I think I will find a small snack to hold me over until dinner time. 

Wow, it's been a while since I've been on here.  Haven't been particularly busy, so I guess I don't really have an excuse.  Let me see here, what is new and exciting.  Well, we went down to Anchorage to watch the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race.  That was pretty cool!  We thought Nathan would really be into it, too, but he seemed more interested in attempting to escape in various ways, generally by running off somewhere.  I intend to post some of the pictures I took, unfortunately they are few because I was silly and failed to ensure that the batteries were fully charged in my camera.  I also failed to ensure I had enough space on the memory card I had with me.  What a bad photographer I am!  Anyhow, I did manage to capture some pictures, so I promise I will get them up on here at some point. 

What else...  Well, we are still waiting for spring weather.  We have had some warmer weather recently, but it can't seem to stop getting cold and snowing in between.  It seems like every time we just get our sidewalk and driveway and deck cleared of snow and ice, we get a little more snow.  It usually doesn't last, but it is very annoying none-the-less.  We have been able to break out the grill and grill a couple of times already.  Granted, I am somewhat crazy about grilling and have been known to grill out in all sorts of different weather conditions that may be less than appealing to most people.  We finally invested in a new charcoal grill as our old one was about to disintegrate in front of me.  I had some sentimental qualms about it at first because the old one has been with us since before we were married, but I am coming to terms with our new one ;)  It's pretty darn nice, actually!  Oh, yes, I had my birthday recently too.  Not that this is very exciting news or anything, but my wonderful hubby has offered to buy me a sewing machine as a gift so I am currently researching for the best deals and brands.  I really have very little idea, but I do know that mom had a Singer, so I have been looking at them in particular.  Unfortunately, they tend to be expensive, so we shall see. 

Speaking of expenses, I've found myself very grateful we were wise enough to put a chunk of money aside for an emergency fund as the way our ridiculous Congress is pointing fingers and beating about the bush on the budget, it looks as though we will be without a paycheck for a bit in the near future. 

So our most recent adventure all started when Nathan was supposed to be taking a nap, but was instead figuring out how to climb out of his crib.  Long story short, after I hear a giant bang and screaming coming from his room, I run back and find him on the floor instead of in his crib.  So, we finally converted it to a toddler bed.  Well, ever since then he will not take naps and he gets up at different times during the night to pound on his door and scream.  SIGH.  I guess it's better we are going through this now than later when the new baby is here.  I'm sure she will do her fair share of keeping us up without Nathan's help.  I do hope it ends soon, it is very annoying!  We have also planned our next trip to Pennsylvania already.  I hope I can handle it as I will only be 2 months postpartum and last time I could still barely walk at that time.  Let's just hope this labor and delivery goes smoother and is nicer to my body this time around.  In fact, please pray for that because it weighs heavily on my mind.  I would like to have a nice little 7 or 8 pound baby instead of a giant this time!  I fear genetics is against me.