Week 17

Another week has gone by already. This was the week of the big move! In the beginning of the week I had to get everything organized and ready for the movers/packers/cleaners/final inspection. Then Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment. Ed was able to come with me, which was awesome. I did the usual stuff...weight, blood pressure, urine sample, etc. They took some blood. I have now gained 15 pounds (OMG) and my blood pressure was higher than normal. I generally have very low blood pressure. Well the nurse was a little concerned about the elevated BP and asked if I was under any more stress than usual. I told her we were in the process of moving and Ed had been working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week so I was doing most of the stuff by myself. She said I should take it easy and hopefully my BP was just caused by undue stress. Here is a picture we took while we waited at the doctor's office...

The packers came right on time Thursday morning and started putting all of our things in boxes. It was pretty neat how quickly they moved. Ed had to work that morning so I stayed at home to keep the dog occupied and help the packers with small things. I took all the pictures off the wall, took apart all of the lamps, disconnected the computer and the tv's, and separated things that needed to stay with us. Around 12:00 I ordered everyone pizza b/c I couldn't leave and we were all starving. Ed came home right around that time and they had an awards ceremony at work. Ed got a NAM (Navy Achievement Medal) and a plaque from the boat. I was very proud of him for working so hard. That's another ribbon to add to his collection on his uniform!! :) He was excited to have completed all of his check-outs on base. And the best part is...he is finally free from the boat!!Well after we had lunch Ed decided that I was too stressed out trying to do everything with the move so he packed up the Jetta and sent me to Columbia to visit my mom. I didn't want to at first, but it sounded like fun to go see her and relax for a few days. I took Hope with me. The movers came on Friday and loaded up all the packed boxes and our furniture onto a big truck. Now I'm at my mom's house relaxing, I'll go back down to GA for the final inspection on Tuesday morning. Then we will be on our way to Cocoa Beach to get our new house!! :)

Here are some pictures from my Columbia trip. I got to visit with Dave & Courtney before they moved to Italy. I also got to see his parents and Lauren...we all went to the Irmo Okra Strut. :) It was raining, but the food was deee-lish!!

I also got to see Andy, Will, & Caroline. We went out to Pancho's for some Mexican food, it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from that night.

Last Night at Work :(

I have to put up a little post to say my goodbyes to all my nurses at Wolfson. I can't believe it's been a whole year already. My first job as a nurse was awesome and I will never forget the things I've learned and the people who taught me. I want to thank everyone who worked my last night with me for making it so special!! I'm really going to miss all of you guys! Here are some pictures from our "party" at 2:00 am. :)

Here I am holding my beautiful and delicious cake!

Thanks 99 year old mean Publix lady for your shaky writing on my cake! JK!

Carrie carefully cutting my cake into HUGE pieces. :)

Kirsten waiting patiently for a piece of cake.

Lindsey and Amy all smiles after cake and goodies!

Night shift has been a lot of fun and I will miss everyone!! Thanks for making my first job so great! :) XOXOXO

Week 16

Wow!! Week 16 already...that is 4 months! I'm almost to the halfway point, which seems unbelievable and a little scary. Well this is going to be a busy, busy week for us. The packers and movers are coming on Thurs/Fri which gives me a couple of days to get rid of anything we don't want to go with us and also separate the stuff we want to take in the cars. We have to prepare to live up to a month or two without our stuff so it is careful planning to figure out exactly what we need to keep with us. Of course I will keep all of our papers (luckily I have them already in little travel file folders), medications (since they won't pack those anyways), clothes, uniforms, dog stuff, toiletries, etc. I'll also be sure to take our valuables such as pictures, letters, movies, jewelry. You get the idea. Ed is going to have to go up into the attic and get all the Christmas stuff and camping stuff that is up there so we don't forget it. Supposedly the movers won't go up there.

We've been trying to eat all of our refrigerated/frozen and opened food. They will pack canned goods and stuff that won't go bad as long as it is unopened. Thank goodness...I didn't want to have to buy all of my spices again b/c they get expensive!! I feel so bad that Hope has to live in a kennel for a few days. Once we get up there and find out how long our wait is going to be, if it is weeks then we are probably going to visit family in SC instead of living in a hotel. Hopefully we can get a house right away and get settled.

So we've been talking about what our plans are for the holidays. It's a little hard since we technically don't know our schedules with work, but here are our plans for now. We are going to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving since Ed's whole family is going to be there. I figure that will probably be the last time I will be able to safely fly before the baby comes. December I will be in my third trimester so we are going to stay home for Christmas and hopefully have family come down to visit us. That is all far away though, so who knows what will actually happen.

Well this might be the last post for awhile. I will try and post somewhere if we have computer access while we are nomads. I'll get pictures of the movers and our new city when we get there. Bye for now!! :)

Week 15

Hello everyone. I can't believe October is almost here! We have been getting ready for the big move. Well I've been getting ready for the big move and poor Ed has been working 84+ hour weeks. Thankfully when we leave here he will never have to do that again. I have been cleaning and throwing excess stuff away. A man from the moving company came last week to walk around the house and see what we had so he could estimate how many boxes and packing materials they would need to get us all set to go. Here's a picture of Ed and Hope on the couch. Ed fell asleep after sitting down for just a few minutes. He's so tired when he comes home from work. I thought it was cute how Hope cuddled up with him.

I'm making lists of all of the people/companies I need to contact to cancel the water, power, cable/phone/internet, etc... I've scheduled a cleaning company to come in after all the stuff is out and then a carpet cleaning company to come in right after them. I just need to schedule our final walk-through inspection with the real estate lady and hopefully that will be it as far as the house.

Today I need to find the number to the lodging facility on base so I can reserve a room for us. The packers and movers are coming the 25th and 26th but we can't leave until the 1st so I have to find a place for us to live. I have to schedule the puppy to stay at the Pampered Pets Resort for a few days. Poor puppy. I looked up another boarding facility in Cocoa Beach to have on hand in case we can't move in to our new place right away. I found one online that is at a veterinarian's office and every single review I read about the boarding and the vet were outstanding. The veterinarian (Dr. Fuller) has been in practice at this place since 1968 and everything I read about him seemed to be incredible. I think he just might become our new veterinarian as well since the place is right near the base and our new neighborhood.

I feel like the list just goes on and on. Next week is my last week of work. :( I'm very sad to leave everyone b/c I love my job and even more I love the people I work with. I can't believe I've been a nurse for over a year now. I have learned SO MUCH at this job and couldn't have asked for a better experience as a new nurse. I'm truly going to miss everyone. One of my co-workers (Monica) is talking about throwing a shower at her house when I get closer to my due date. She said it's not fair to everyone b/c they all want to see me get big (thanks a lot) so she wants to get everyone together. I think that will be awesome and I can't wait to drive down to see everyone. Here are some pictures I took at work this past week. I'm trying to get everyone I work with before I leave so I can remember my first job and all of the best nurses and ACP's ever!! :)

Well I guess I'd better get back to my never ending list of things to do!! :)

Ultrasound Pictures!!!

They're finally here for all of you who have been waiting!! :) I got some of the pictures scanned from my most recent ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. These are baby at 13 weeks. They are pretty amazing pictures. Soon I will try and get the rest of them up or at least get the first ones up (done at 9.5 weeks) so you can see how much change happened in only a 3-week span of time. I'll go through and explain them a little bit.

This one is a nice profile shot. You can really see the nose and mouth, baby's arm is to its side and legs are straight up in the air and a little out of the shot.

This one is one of my favorites. It looks like baby is relaxing in a hammock. Arms are behind the head and feet/legs are straight up on the right side of the picture. This is the one that makes Ed think its a boy. We were happy though, if the baby is this relaxed when it comes out our jobs will be a piece of cake!! :)

This one is a little scary. Instead of a profile shot it's the face straight on. Since you can really only see bone in an ultrasound you are seeing a skull. It looks kind of like an alien, but that is normal according to the ultrasound tech.

This one is neat b/c it shows the heartbeat. Pretty neat! :) She said baby looks perfect and everything is right on track. We got our blood results back the other day from this visit. The doctor said everything was normal! Yay, one less thing to worry about. We are very lucky to have such a perfect little baby.

Week 14

Well I'm a little ways into my second trimester and feeling much better. I get the occasional wave of nausea (especially with smells) but it usually goes away quickly. We finally heard from the Navy and the packers are coming Thursday the 25th and then they will load up all the boxes and our furniture on Friday the 26th. I guess I'd better call the hotel on base and book a room for that weekend. Ed's last day of work is on Tuesday the 30th so we will be living in a hotel for awhile. I'm sad that we will have to put the puppy in a kennel because she HATES it. We are excited for a new adventure and looking forward to making new friends. Hopefully they will have a house ready for us when we get there. If you want to see where we will be living you can go to this website: http://www.patrickfamilyhousing.com/ On the website you can find virtual tours of the inside and the floorplans. We are going to be getting floorplan 3-C. If you go under "New Home Concepts" you will find it. It's a neighborhood that is occupied by all military families, but it is not on base. We don't like to live on base because you feel so secluded. At least this way we are in a "normal" neighborhood and all of our neighbors will be in the same boat as us. Most of them will be younger with kids and won't have their families nearby for support. I'm hoping to find people who share similar interests as us. It would be really great to find someone who is pregnant like me so we could go through it together. It's always nice to be able to talk to someone who understands what you are going through. I guess we will find out in a few weeks. Here is my latest picture. We took it last night before I went to work. I'm really starting to pop out now.

Week 13

Hi friends! Not much new to report for this week. I had my second doctor's appointment and all went well. So far I have gained 7 pounds total, my blood pressure was great, and I'm feeling much better. Everything is right on track. The best part of the doctor's office visits are the dopplar they use to hear the heartbeat. She found it right away and it was going strong in the 150's. Last time we had our ultrasound it was in the 140's...I guess it was a little excited that day. We are pretty much just working and sitting around waiting to see what is going to happen with all of these hurricanes. We are getting ready for the big move. We're excited about a new place. Hopefully all of our stuff and our family will make it there safe and sound. Like I said, nothing new to report. Check back in soon!