Matt & Lindsay's Spot

I'm Back

2008-09-01T04:44:00.005-05:00

So I'm back to being a bad blogger. Things were great at home while I was on vacation. I ate like a king and probably put on 5lbs in just the first week. It was so nice to spend time with Lindsay, Will, and the rest of the family. Lindsay looked great and was somehow still sane after being a single mom for the better part of a year. Will was quite the little ball of fun. It is amazing how much he has changed. Nothing made me happier than the fact that he knew exactly who I was and loved me like I never left.

We spent most of the days around the house just enjoying family. I had a few chances to work out in the yard which was nice. Until vacation I had only spent about two weeks in our new house so it was good to get a feel for the place. We also spent a few days up at the lake condo. Being able to swim is such a luxury. After what seemed like a short two weeks it was time to head back to work. I hopped on a plane and was back on Afghanistan sand in about four days.

Work has been really busy for the last few weeks. This is the end of the fiscal year for the government so we have all sorts of contracting to get closed out. I've also had the pleasure of being afflicted by kidney stones. Yeah those aren't so fun but nothing that a little Percocet can't handle. Now that the bulk of the paper work is completed hopefully I can get back to spending most of my time outside the wire on missions.

Oh and congrats to Andrea and Brad on their new baby girl!

I'm Home

2008-07-10T20:28:00.001-05:00

Well I'm home for a few weeks on R&R. I am going to bed now. That is a long flight.

It's the Little Things

2008-06-29T05:40:00.003-05:00

So it is raining(read: 5 min sprinkle) here today for first time in 2 months. I just walked outside and stood in it. I realized that I have probably forgotten so many normal things that I don't even miss them anymore. Just off the top of my head: trees, grass, not being assaulted by flies every day, driving unarmored vehicles, not carrying a weapon at all times, eating out, home cooking, donuts, quality toilet paper, drinking from the faucet, a time before the word roger was a universal response...

Speaking of home cooking, the terps invited me to come over for dinner last night. I had already eaten grilled cheese and tomato soup at the DFAC for dinner but I didn't want to turn down an invitation. They made some stewed okra dish with onions and tomatoes that was pretty good. There was also what they called a salad but we would call more of a salsa. It had fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and some seasoning. Of course there was the delicious flat bread that serves as a universal utensil here. After dinner we just sat around talking and drinking tea. The terps that don't get used a lot enjoy practicing their English so everyone had a good time.

I can feel a case of short-timers creeping up on me with leave right around the corner. I still need to figure out what I want to do while i'm home. Are the Travs playing while i'm home? That would be a nice night.

Meet Two of the Most Honorable Men I Know

2008-06-23T05:17:00.002-05:00

Meet CM1 Ross L. Toles and HN Marc A. Retmier. These two brothers of mine were killed in action during an attack in the Zurok District of Paktika. Please take time to pray for them, their families, the other injured, and the PRT.

Honor them with your prayers.

Still Breathing

2008-06-14T03:49:00.005-05:00

Yeah we have been bad bloggers lately. We do have good excuses though. Lindsay is busy chasing a scary smart toddler around and I'm busy defending freedom and democracy around the world.

So things have gotten pretty busy over here. I spend alot of time out on missions and when I'm back at the FOB my office work eats up a good 10-12 hours of the day. I really appreciate everyone that has been sending care packages and things to hand out for the kids. The students at CLS are in the lead by far. I usually get a packet of notes from them once a month plus they sent in nine boxes of paper, pens, and crayons for the PRT to pass out to children.

It is getting to that point in the deployment where people start getting on each other's nerves. Luckily it is also time for R&R to start. I have never been one to get annoyed easily and that has really helped me keep a good attitude. My contractors are the only people that can really get under my skin. If they aren't begging for money then they are coming up with excuses about why their work looks like crap or isn't finished. Being nice and stern (read mean) with them gives me a nice outlet for frustration. A few of them have told Azim that I am a very mean man which he gleefully translates for me. Azim is my interpreter for those that don't know. He is a great guy to work with and helps me out immensely. As the engineer terp he gets alot of on the job training with construction and contracting which can lead to a good job in the future when he is done being a terp.

I have also started going to the gym every day and running every three days. It just helps break up the monotony and makes carrying around 70lbs worth of armor/gear/weapons a bit easier. I don't really have any lifting goals but I do want to be able to run 13 miles at a 8:30 pace by the time I come home. There are plenty of guys my age that can run faster but things are a little different up here at 7500 feet.

I'll try and update more often from here on out.

Dirt + Rain = ???

2008-04-09T06:07:00.003-05:00

Hey there folks. I am coming to you from a FOB out in the middle of nowhere. It has decided to rain today and that really puts a downer on my convoy. The travel is horrible when it is dry and all but impossible when it rains. Once i get back to my base i will post some of the fun pictures for you.

Well it has been a little while

2008-03-29T11:55:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone. I am all settled in and doing well here in Afghanistan. My work here keeps me very busy for the most part. When I am not out on convoys meeting locals and taking care of construction projects, I can be found back at the FOB working with my contractors or helping the local government build more internal capacity. The average day seems to run about 12 hours of work. I am falling into a gym routine in the early mornings so that is a nice time for me to relax and have some quiet.

Everything here is so freaking dry and dusty. Just the other day I was out surveying a large road project that I have and a nasty little dust storm engulfed my convoy. We had to wait it out at one of my contractor's worker camps. Hospitality is a huge part of the Afghan lifestyle. I will often sit and have a meal and tea with folks for an hour or two before we can even start to talk about business. The work is rewarding though and most of the locals have a real thirst for knowledge. The people want a better life and most are willing to pitch in and lend a hand.

My living accommodations would make most people cringe but it is enough to get by comfortably in my opinion. I share a small concrete room with two other guys. The room is a bit smaller than an average dorm room so space is kinda tight. We had such a rough life while training at Fort Bragg that being here with a roof over my head and warm meals is feeling pretty nice. The local food generally tastes good but most of the time it will leave you feeling sick for a day or two. There isn't any refrigeration around here so the meat is what will usually get you. Come to think of it, there isn't even any electrical power system except on the FOB. The bright side to that is the night time sky is truly a sight to behold. On a new moon you can see every star imaginable. Walking back to my room late at night is probably one of my favorite parts of the day.

I really enjoy getting outside the wire. Luckily for me, my job requires a lot of work out in the countryside and among the people. Convoys can be long and rather tricky at times since there is only about 30km of paved roads in Paktika. The province is roughly the side of Vermont to give that a little scale. We do a lot of offroad driving but the humvees are great at taking a beating.

Well I didn't realize that I was gonna start writing a book when this post began. I will cut it off here and save some more details for later. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. Thinking about all my family and friends back in the States is what keeps me going every day. Contact Lindsay or my folks if you want my mailing address here.

Hello From Halfway Around the World

2008-02-26T12:22:00.002-05:00

Just a quick hello note to everyone out there. I am sitting in Kyrgyzstan at the moment waiting on a flight to Afghanistan. The flight really wasn't too horrible despite being 18-hours long. Kinda strange that I am on a 12-hour time difference from everyone back home. I'll have some pictures and more posts to come once i get settled down in Afghanistan. I love you all and will talk with you soon hopefully.

Needless to say, its been a little crazy!

2007-12-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah I know. I'm sorry its been so long. We have finally started to settle in to our new home. It is wonderful being here! The guest room and the garage are the only rooms that still have boxes in them ( yea, yea, yea!!!! I never want to unload a box again!) Yesterday, I hung up the majority of the pictures around the house. It makes it feel more like a home. I would hang them all, but our nails are in one of those pesky garage boxes. I may just have to go buy more. Hopefully Matt likes how I decorated the place.

Matt has been at training for a while (he is actually coming home on Friday! I am counting the minutes. Can you tell?) He is doing well. They are keeping him busy. 12- 14 hour days of classes and training are the norm. They are trying to cram in a years worth of info into 3 months of training. During this part of the training, I get to talk to him everyday, which has been wonderful. We will see how the part after Christmas is going to be. I am SO looking forward to having him home for a while. Sorry if I keep repeating myself, I just can't help it.

Will and I have had a few crazy weeks. We have been trying to get the house in working order. Will has tried to "help" me. Have you ever unpacked a box with a 1 year old? 1st, we have to play with the packing paper. 2nd, we need to examine and play with EACH item unwrapped. 3rdly, we need to check out if there is anything left in the box, and sometimes if it is empty, we sneak things back in the box to take out all over again. Lastly we have to play in the box. That whole episode takes a good 30 minutes for a small box. We didn't have a lot of small boxes; ours were large, very large and took a lot more time to get through. But hey, he had fun, but that is why I still have boxes. I am just to tired after I put him to bed to do too much.

Then to put a damper on it all, Will and I both got the flu. We have been fighting this for over a week now. Will had to go to the doctor twice because his moved to an ear infection. He has now been on Tamiflu (I am pretty sure that is what it is called) and antibiotics and is doing a lot better. I know what you are all thinking, "why didn't you get a flu shot?". Well, I have never had a flu shot and have, until this year, never gotten so much as a cold. I was going to talk to Will's doctor about it for him at his check up which was 3 days after he got the flu. Live and learn.

Will and I both celebrated our birthdays already this month. The big 1 for him. Happy Birthday my darling boy! And I turned the big 27, myself. Not as exciting, but whatever. Luckily, we celebrated his birthday before we got sick, but we were in the worst of the flu when my b-day rolled around. I don't know why, but something always seems to happen on that day. I think Will enjoyed turning 1. A whole new world opened itself up for him, and that world is called CAKE!

Movin', Movin', Movin'.....

2007-11-12T13:10:00.000-05:00

Most of you already know that this is our moving week. The movers are coming this Tuesday and Wednesday. Will and I are flying home Thursday morning and after dropping us off at the airport, Matt is going to drive home with the cats. Fun stuff (thats sarcasm you hear). We actually close on our new house on Monday, but really have no clue when we are going to receive our belongings. They just told us it will be no later than Friday. Seeing as Thanksgiving is that Thursday, I am hoping we get it before that. Matt is leaving the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I want him to spend a few days in the house with us. We will see. If not, he will be home for Christmas, and he can get use to our new home then. Needless to say, we might not be updating for a little while. It will take us a few days to get internet and all that stuff. Wish us luck. Little Rock, here we come!

NO MORE CAST!!!!!!!

2007-11-06T19:19:00.001-05:00

Will got his cast off on Monday. It was quite the traumatic experience. Having some strange woman coming at me with a very loud, very scary circular saw would scare me to death too! But when it was over, we were very happy to have it off (and to leave the doctors, as well. He isn't the biggest fan of the doctor's office). The doc said that it healed perfectly and he shouldn't have any problems with it from now on. It took Will a while to use his leg, though. I had to bribe him to start crawling, but once he got started, he was back to normal pretty quickly. He is still walking on his tip-toes when he is walking along the furniture. I think it has been in the same position in the cast for so long, it 's the norm now. Hopefully, the more he uses it, the more he will start trusting it. Its sad how it looked when the cast came off. It was smaller than the other leg and the skin was all scaly. After a bath and some lotion, the skin looks a lot better. The size should get bigger the more he uses it and builds up the muscle. We are all just happy to be rid of it and hopefully we can get back to trying to walk in the very near future.

Beware: Dinosaurs!

2007-10-31T13:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Where has the time gone?

2007-10-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

Life is insane. Ok, I think I have said that before, but, WOW! We sold our house. Yea! (Matt will correct me here and say it is under contract. To me: same thing) I took a quick trip to Little Rock and we bought a house (again read: under contract) and right now we are trying to get everything ready to go. We will be moving in early Nov. I know, quick, huh?! Will is waking up from his nap right now, so I better go. This is about all we know; sorry for the lack of details. I'll try and get more. Just wanted to let you know we are still here and kickin'!

Check out the new fashions for fall

2007-10-11T09:07:00.001-05:00

Tuesday we got Will's real cast put on. I was a little surprised when they told me it had to come up over his knee. I guess babies can flex their feet in just a way that they are able to get out of short casts. Its been a little frustrating, especially for him. This weekend, he was taking 5 or 6 steps on his own and was walking all over the house holding on the furniture, and now he is having to learn a new way of crawling and can't pull himself up to stand. Overall, he is being a trooper, but you can tell he is frustrated with it. Its also a learning experience for Matt and I. Changing a diaper is a dangerous sport now. First, that thing is heavy and hard and when he kicks with it, you better watch out! I have plenty of bruises from when he has kicked me with it. Second, that thing comes all the way up. Not a lot of room for cleaning mistakes. The cast can't get wet, so no baths for Will, only sponge baths. Thats a little sad, he loves bath time. But as I said before, he is a little trooper and his parents are going to have to keep up the him. I thought his shirt was fitting. He is my "little hero".

Can't keep us down!

2007-10-08T15:23:00.000-05:00

Will, Matt, and I had a very exciting morning; as you can tell from the picture above. Will was walking along the coffee table when he somehow got his feet twisted up and fell. He cried for a while but got over it pretty quickly. We thought he was ok. It wasn't a bad fall, it looked like the ones he takes all the time, but when we went to put him down on his feet, he started crying again and wouldn't put any weight on it. So we were about to take him into the emergency room when we get a call from the realtor asking if they could show our house in 15 minutes. We were like whatever, we just won't be here. I tried to get the house to look good, but at this point, I didn't really care. Then a knock on the front door. The man was coming to fix a part of our siding that was damaged in a storm. All we were trying to do was get to the hospital. It was a little crazy! We finally get to the hospital and we have to wait 4 hours!!!! Will was doing great, but towards the end, he was getting a little cranky because he couldn't get down and run around. Poor kid doesn't understand. He finally gets to see the doctor, who tells us that Will has a buckle fracture. In the x-ray you can see a bump along the bone. Its like the bone mushroomed out. So, he has to wear this splint on his leg and we are suppose to get a call from the orthopedics this week to make an appointment with them. The doctor told us that they might put a real cast on him then. He told us that is should heal in about 4 weeks. No more adventures for a little while, ok?

And the work begins.....

2007-09-27T18:10:00.000-05:00

Today we finally received Matt's orders. He had gotten them on Tuesday, but those weren't right. We got it all worked out and the final ones are here. Now all the work begins. We have talked to Realtors about our house here and are going to get the move set up in the next few days. It looks like we are going to be moving in November. We don't really know exact dates. We are going to be really busy, so if we don't update that often, I'm sorry. I will try my best.

Waiting is the name of the game

2007-09-20T09:54:00.000-05:00

We were suppose to receive Matt's orders either today or yesterday. Well, we found out that there is going to be a delay in getting them. I was told that its common for this to happen in this type of deployment. What does it mean? Nothing in the big scheme of things, Matt will still go to training in November and Afghanistan in February. We are just put in a pinch because without the orders we cannot set up our move, and without knowing when the move is going to take place, we can't put our house on the market. So, we are going to have less time to get all this done. The only thing we can do now is get our house ready to sell, and I have been working on that all week (cleaning out closets is fun!). That is pretty much all we know as of today. If we find out anything else, we will let you know.

Join the Navy, See the World!

2007-09-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

Well it looks like it is finally time for me to adventure out and see the world. We don't know a lot of details yet but we will keep everyone updated as things develop. What we do know is that I'll be moving to Norfolk, VA in November for training and then departing for Afghanistan in February '08. I'll be in Afghanistan for a full year and should return to the States in February '09. Lindsay and Will are going to move back to Little Rock sometime in November to spend the year there.

We both knew this would be happening soon so it isn't a shock to us by any means. I'm pretty excited about the work I'll be doing over there and I'm sure Lindsay is going to enjoy being closer to all of our family and friends.

More updates will come as news becomes available.

I am my father's son

2007-09-14T12:28:00.000-05:00

Why does this picture scare me? Is it because he took to online gaming so quickly? Granted, its the Elmo game and what kid can resist, but it had to be something past down through the blood. So scary.

Will wanted to say hello

2007-09-09T15:31:00.000-05:00

We have had the video camera for a while now, but we lost the software to upload it. Needless to say, we found it. Now that I am learning how to do all this, I will have to put some of Will's new "tricks" up for you to see, but today, we just wanted to say hello.

(excuse the shaky camera - I was sitting on the floor, holding the camera, while Will was trying to climb on my lap - the boy loves to climb)

Eat, Drink, and Sleep construction.....

2007-09-06T09:53:00.001-05:00

I don't think so, but with Matt's job, its a big part of his life. So, Will wanted to show his support with construction trucks on his pj's. He has only been wearing big boy pj's for a couple of weeks now and he just looks so cute in them. My boys, I love them!

I'm pretty sure we like Sesame Street

2007-09-05T09:45:00.001-05:00

Don't worry, I didn't let him stay that close the whole time. I wish I caught his face in the picture, he was just smiling and laughing. Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and of coarse, Elmo are our favorites, but we love them all.

Reach for the.......Fish?

2007-08-28T15:04:00.001-05:00

This week, Will has learned to pull himself up on everything! He started by pulling himself up on the ottoman, and it has progressed from there. Very quickly! It took him only once to master this new skill. Now, he tries to pull himself up on whatever is handy, myself included. Its really bad if I am sitting on the floor. He uses me as a ladder. He uses my legs to stand up and then steps up onto my lap and tries to climb up the front of me. He is a little monster truck. Just climb over it or through it. Nothing stops the kid. Once he is up, he uses whatever he is holding onto to walk around. I think he doesn't know he can't walk yet, because he often lets go and tries to keep walking, only to fall flat. Its quite fun to see him progress so quickly. He can slow down now, so that his mother can learn to keep up.

I wasn't doing anything!

2007-08-24T09:47:00.001-05:00

Caught you! Those shiny gold knobs were just too temping not to pull open. I'm sure he would of sooner if he had know there were "toys" hidden in them. The first time he opened the cabinet, you could just see his eyes brighten with the joy of discovering the mother load. We spend a lot of time banging on our pots and pans. Its even better when the wooden spoons come out and play. Tylenol, anyone?

The mystery of glass....

2007-08-12T15:38:00.001-05:00

Will was determined to get through it. He just kept walking in place. It was quite cute! This photo is a little deceiving, he isn't quite walking by himself yet. He will stand and walk a little when he is holding on to something, or he will walk when holding on to just one of my hands (he use to have to have both). Its slower when he has just one hand, but he can move when he has both.

As you can see, Lola isn't too concerned with him. Both the cats are getting a kick out of him now, as long as they are not within reach. They love to watch, from a higher perch, him crawling around. Will loves to play with their toys and it drives them crazy. They keep waiting for him to throw their toys, but he is oblivious to them. I have been trying to teach him to pet them GENTLY, and we have been having some hits and misses. The cats have been a lot more patient with him than I thought they would be. Its been a lot of fun seeing their relationship grow.

Places to go, people to see

2007-07-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

I knew one day it would happen, but wow, it sneaks up on you. Every morning, after I feed Will, I put him on his blanket on the floor with all of his toys while I toast my bagel. This morning was no different. I was in the kitchen and I feel something hit my leg. Thinking it was the cat, I look down and see Will! He had followed me into the kitchen! He has been doing his version of crawling for a while now, but has never really gone more than a couple of feet at a time. His version of crawling is quite funny, its actually called creeping (I read a few articles on crawling when he was first starting and this is a version of it). He stays on his belly and does the army crawl with his arms. One arm does more work than the other while the opposite leg pushes him. The other leg just drags behind and does nothing. I thought something was wrong with his leg, but it turns out its just one way of crawling. Its very silly, but man, can the boy move when he wants to. Baby proofing aisle here I come!

When teething goes bad....

2007-07-13T16:19:00.001-05:00

I guess someone, in the middle of the night, decided that arms make great chew toys. Not my idea of a teether, but to each his own.

Livin' on the edge!

2007-07-11T12:11:00.001-05:00

As you can see Will is on the verge of crawling. He gets up on all 4 and just rocks back and forward. He even gets his arms going OR his legs going. We haven't figured out that we need to do both at once. So he belly flops a lot. When he actually gets all appendages moving, he somehow ends up going backwards. Haven't figured that out yet. He is not very happy about learning to crawl, he just wants to walk. Every time I try to get him to crawl, he rolls over, grabs my hands, pulls up, and tries to walk off. He usually screams if I try to get him to do it again. He does great with walking as long as he holds on to my fingers. He barely even supports himself on my hands, just as a safety. He sometimes tries to go quicker than his little feet can keep up. He tries to let go, but ends up falling. He would spend all day walking around the house if I would let him, but its a little hard on the back, leaning over for him to hold my hands. I heard somewhere that they should learn to crawl before walking. Something about coordination later in life, but I don't know if I believe it. People are super opinionated about it. Its quite funny. We'll just see what he does.
Sorry we haven't updated in a while. It's been a crazy busy month. I promise to try and be better. Have a great rest of the week; the weekend cannot come quickly enough!

Look who's standing now!

2007-06-15T13:06:00.001-05:00

In the last month, Will has learned to sit on his own, gotten 2 teeth, and now we know how to stand (when holding on to something). Thats just a short list! Everyone always said that they grow up fast, but WOW! He is also very close to belly crawling. He's gotten the legs down, he just pushes himself across the floor; now we just need the arms to join in and we got it. I think once he gets a little more strength, he will get his belly off the floor and off he will go. It seems like everyday he is doing new things, I can barely keep up!

Show me those pearly whites!

2007-06-12T16:35:00.000-05:00

Not the best picture, but its a little difficult getting a picture of the inside of a 6 month old's mouth. They are a little easier to see in real life. He is trying to get use to his new teeth; he is always rubbing his tongue over them or chewing on something (pretty much everything!). Tylenol and cold teething rings are our new best friends!

My, how our boy has changed!

2007-06-05T06:15:00.001-05:00

Today, Will turns 6 months old! Can you believe it! Time does fly. Look at how small he was. The first picture was taken when he was 2 weeks old. He's my little chunk now. He has changed so much. He now rolls over both ways with ease and as you can see, sits all by himself. He chatters constantly. No "mama" or "dada" yet, but we are working on it. :) Its been a great adventure so far, I can't wait to see what happens next!

I think I left the happy side of Will in Little Rock!

2007-05-26T16:32:00.000-05:00

We just got back from spending a week in Little Rock. We had the best time! Will traveled great. He slept on the plane both ways. It was hilarious; as soon as we took off, out he went. He also loved meeting all of the family. Needless to say, he was completely spoiled (see above photo - he was having the time of his life!) His favorite thing is to be carried around and with all those grandparents, aunts, and uncles, that was all that happened. I completely encouraged it; its not like he gets that chance very often. The reality of playing on the floor when he got home was not taken very well, but we are starting to accept the inevitable. The last few days of the trip, Will started to get a little fussy, not horrible, but not very happy. We thought he was just getting homesick. Not the case. On the plane ride home, he started to chew on my finger. After a few seconds I noticed a sharp little tooth sticking out! Poor little guy! He just wasn't feeling the best. I was pretty proud of how well he was doing considering teething, traveling, and all the new people and places. Once we got home, I noticed a second bump on the bottom. I guess 2 teeth are a little too much to handle.

HELP! I'm being eaten alive!

2007-05-09T07:57:00.000-05:00

I really can't think of anything more to say.
I think the picture speaks for itself.

It can't be Monday...... I'm happy

2007-04-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

The last few pictures of Will have been very serious faces, which is how it is 90 % of the time anyway. It is even harder to get a picture of it, because he sombers up the sec he sees the camera. I guess today was my lucky day! So, memorize it, because we might not get another picture of it for awhile.

Show some love

2007-04-25T12:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't think it was fair to just show love to my Caffine Free Diet Dr Pepper. I need to show everyone how much I love my water as well. So, today, I show the world my true feelings for water too!

Who are you?

2007-04-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

It has come up a few times that we don't know who Will looks like the most. The picture on the top left is Matt at 6 months old and the top right is me at 6 months old. (if you press on the picture it will get bigger and you can take a better look) Tell us what you think!

Let me count the ways

2007-04-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

Let me tell all of you how much I love my Caffine Free Diet Dr. Pepper.

I just want to kiss it

and take a big ol' bite out of it.

Ahhhh......what a feeling!

Let the stare down begin!

2007-04-11T16:01:00.000-05:00

Daphne is keeping watch over the progress Will is making towards crawling. That will become the day her life will change forever!

Will's Room

2007-04-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

Andrea asked me before Will was born to put up pictures of his nursery. Well, 4 months later, here they are. Opps :) I guess it slipped my mind. It was in a state of disorder for a while. I took my time getting it ready since he was sleeping in our room for the first couple of months. It still needs a couple of little things, but it is pretty much done. Yes, thats Will sitting in his glider. He kinda looks like a doll in some of the pictures :)

The weight of the world on my shoulders

2007-03-18T19:28:00.000-05:00

Very sleepy. Going to bed. Just realized we haven't put up a post in a while. We took this picture today and it was so cute. Will was having the time of his life! Its crazy to think that one day he might just be that tall. Hopefully with those big feet of his, he will follow in his fathers footsteps and be that tall. Pray he doesn't take after his mama.

Where'd the cup go?

2007-03-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

In the last few days, Will has discovered he can actually hold onto things! One of his favorites are the cups. Matt put the cup on his head and it stayed there for a couple minutes. He had no clue it was there. Either that or he didnt care. Eventually it fell off and he just continued on as if it was never there. My strange son :)

Yea for Friday!!!!

2007-02-23T09:33:00.000-05:00

As you can see, we are very excited that its Friday! We just couldn't contain it! Have a great weekend! We plan too!

Happy Valentines Day!

2007-02-14T21:04:00.000-05:00

This was Will sporting his Valentines Day presents from Grandpa and Grandma Koss. As you can tell, he loves them. We had a great Valentines Day, it was pretty laid back. Hope you guys did too!

p.s.

2007-02-11T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well, paradise only lasts for so long. He just woke up... 20 min is a start.

Victory at last!

2007-02-11T13:55:00.000-05:00

You are witnessing the first nap Will has taken in his swing. Not just in his swing, anywhere other than on us! He normally wakes up screaming when we tried to put him down. I am afraid to believe that its really happening! This is live people! Sunday, 2pm eastern time. This is the only way I would be able to be on the blog right now! I am hoping it is not just a one time miracle. Planets had to align for this to happen. We had to have him fed, tired (awake for a few hours), and happy (tired and happy dont often mix - in fact, its extremely rare). He's been doing his jumping while asleep thing (you know the feeling - like you are falling) I was sure that it was going to wake him up, but so far, so good. It usually has in the past. Could be my boy is growing up on me. I am knocking on wood right now that this could continue. Cross those fingers!

Go Bumbo!

2007-01-30T19:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend we bought a bumbo seat for Will. Its a seat for babies who cant quite sit on their own yet. Its really for babies who are 3 months and older, but he sits in it just fine. (He's 2 months today!) He just lounges. He sat in it for over 10 minutes the first time, which is a record for trying something new. The first time we put him in the swing and the bouncy seat, he was screaming after 2 minutes. I was very surprised! I hope he keeps liking it. Crossing my fingers. All else is well. Nothing new to report. The 2nd pic is just a cute one that I wanted to put up. I know, its random, but oh well. Have a good rest of the week!

News Flash! Rare Sighting!!!

2007-01-21T18:38:00.000-05:00

That is right folks. You heard it here first. Will has learned to smile! I know it might seem like a small thing but you have no idea how rewarding it is after 6 weeks of blank stares and crying. He also is making progress on the thumb sucking.

We are both doing well too. The lack of sleep still makes us a bit pugnacious at times but even that is getting better. I just finished the taxes. Have you gotten all your money back from Uncle Sam yet?

Learning to suck my thumb

2007-01-11T17:37:00.000-05:00

So today has been a busy day. I woke up, ate, looked around alot, took a short nap, pooped, and did it all again. But this evening, I have decided to try something new. Suck my thumb. I dont like pacifiers. Why suck on that when you have these great things attached to your hand? Its more complicated than I thought it would be, but I am getting it. Don't you worry. I'll get it one of these days.

Where has the time gone?

2007-01-07T14:12:00.000-05:00

Time has flown by! Will is already a month old. He now weighs 9 lbs 2 oz and is doing great. He holds his head up pretty well and loves to be constantly entertained. In the last day or 2 he has started making cooing noises. Its very cute. He still usually only takes cat naps during the day but they are getting longer. Today is the first time I will have him alone overnight. Matt has watch. He left this morning at 7 am and won't be back until after work on Monday. I'm a little nervous, but I know we will do great. He is starting to get fussy, so I better go. Hope you all are doing great!

2 weeks already!

2006-12-20T09:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday marked Will's 2 week b-day. He is growing like a weed! We had his weight checked last Thursday and he was 7 lbs 2 oz. They say that they should be up to birth weight (7 lbs 4 oz) by 2 weeks, but I think we have passed that. He was 6 lbs 8 oz when we left the hospital. So, in one week, he gained 10 oz. Which is great. I wish we had a scale to see what he is now, he just seems bigger to me. This week, he has decided that the world is too exciting to sleep. During the day, he only takes mini cat naps, but spends most of his time wide awake. He has been doing pretty good at night (knock on wood). He gets up every 3 hours to eat. Matt and I have our system down . Matt gets up, changes his diaper, and gives him to me. I then feed him and put him to sleep, which is sometimes not as easy as it seems. So, we both get some sleep, but we are still pretty tired. It comes with the territory, I guess. Other than being tired, we are all doing great. Still learning the ropes, but enjoying it.

Our first few days at home

2006-12-10T19:53:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week! It feels great to be home with Will. He is doing great. I cant believe he is 5 days old already! We got home on Thursday afternoon. It was wonderful to be home again. We have our first check-up for him tomorrow. He is pretty laid back, so far. That could change, but we are enjoying it now. I am sore, but getting better everyday. We really aren't on a schedule, we are just following signs from him. It seems to be working. Here are a couple pics. Sorry the one is a little fuzzy, it was just too cute not to put up. We will update again in a few days.

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers!

Hi, I'm new around here.

2006-12-06T15:23:00.000-05:00

I just ran home to feed the cats. Meet William Aloysius Koss. We will do a big post when we get home later this week.

The big day is upon us

2006-12-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

Its finally here. CRAZY!!!!! Exciting, though. Today, I have to go up to the hospital and have labs done and finalize some things around the house. Then tomorrow, bright and early (don't know the exact time - I have to call this afternoon to find out) we go into the hospital and have ourselves a baby! The beginning of our new lives. We are going to be in the hospital for a few days, but we will try and get pictures up as soon as we can. Wish us luck!

The week of doctors has begun

2006-11-27T16:50:00.000-05:00

I have dubbed this week "the week of doctors" because every day this week, I have an appointment with either doctors or nurses. Today I had a regular doctors check-up. Baby looks great, still heads up though. Stubborn little boy. Tomorrow, its not technically a doctors appointment, but Matt and I have an infant care class. It pretty much teaches first time parents the basics. Very helpful, I am hoping. Wednesday, I have my non-stress test, fourth and final one, I am hoping. Thursday, I am meeting with the doctor who is going to perform the c-section. I haven't met her yet, but I have heard good things about her, so I am feeling good about it. She will be telling me when to be there, what to expect, etc. Friday, I am meeting with the anesthesiologist and getting all sorts of pre-op labs done. Sounds like fun, huh? All of that on top of trying to get everything else in our lives prepared for the arrival of our baby (like that will ever happen :) )

So, the week of doctors has begun and I am sure it is going to go by quickly. Before we know it, it will be next Tuesday and the little guy will be here. Crazy isn't it that he will be here a week from tomorrow?!? Wow!

This just in...

2006-11-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

How does December 5th sound to everyone? Sounds like a strong birthday to me! I didnt get much of a choice in the matter, there are over 190 scheduled births in the month of December at our hospital. I asked if that was the norm and she told me no way, it must have lined up with a deployment coming home, how funny is that! That was the only day that week that they could perform the c-section and they had to do it that week when I am 39 weeks. Its a good thing I like the date! December 5th (unless something weird happens and I go into labor before that), 21 days and counting! Woo-Hoo!!!!

Sorry I didnt update yesterday

2006-11-14T09:31:00.000-05:00

It was a very long day. Matt and I were at the hospital at 7:30 am and didnt leave until after 2pm. When we first got there, I went in to see my doctor and was checked out to make sure he was still breech. He was. They also checked and I am still at 2cm.

After that, they sent me up to Labor and Delivery for the version. They hooked me up to the monitors for about an hour to make sure his heartrate was steady and how my contractions were. They were still going strong. After 3 attemps, they got me hooked up to an IV, I guess my veins just didnt want to cooperate. The doctors decided that since my contractions were how they were that they would give me a relaxing drug. I was like, Sure! Little did I know it was the drug I had before when I went in to L&D for my contractions at 28 weeks. The shaky med. Fun stuff. So they give me that and it works instantly. My contractions stop and the shaking begins. There were 4 doctors, nurses, Matt and I in the room. It was quite a party. So after I sign tons of papers, they began.

They checked the postion of the baby with the ultrasound. The first attempt, they decided to try a front roll with him. There were 2 doctors actually performing the version. The male doc pushed the baby up and out of my pelvis, while the female doc actually turned him. It was the most excrusiating pain I have ever felt. I didnt know pain like that existed. I physically couldn't breath. They had to keep telling me to breath, so I wouldnt pass out, but I just couldnt breath while it was going on, no matter what I tried. The 2 docs had both of their whole body weighs pressing on my abdomen. Matt said at one time the female doc had her feet off the ground and her whole weight on me. They got him about half way there and as soon as they loosened their hold, he fought his way back up. The doctor was saying that when she was holding him in position, he was fighting her the whole time. Stubborn little boy, I guess he takes after his mother already.

They tried 2 more times after that. They said that they could try a total of 3 times and that was all they would do. One where they tried a back roll and another front roll. Toward the end of the last time they tried, I asked them to stop, I just couldnt take it any more, and it wasnt working. We all gave it everything we could and he just doesnt want to move. The nurse who was there said she had never seen them work on someone the way they did on me, and she has been a L&D nurse for 15 years. With a normal version, they dont usually work as hard on someone like they did with me and if they have to, they give them an epidural. I guess since I was taking it, they just kept going harder. Even though I am a little dissapointed that it didnt work, I am glad I gave it everything I had, so I can look back and know this was the way it was suppose to be. So we are going to be scheduling a c-section when I turn 39 weeks (the first week of December). The lady who normally schedules them was out yesterday, so I am going to call her today. I will let you all know the date when I know it.

I am just taking it slow today, I kinda feel like I was hit by a mack truck. Matt has been wonderful, he took the rest of the day off yesterday and took care of me. I think he was a little tramatized by watching the version. He ordered me not to do anything today while he is as work, so I am trying to follow orders (this one time, at least :) ) Sorry about the long post; I tried to make it as compact as I could.

Big Day Tomorrow

2006-11-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow I have my External Cephalic Version. (webmd's explination)(I called it wrong before, I thought they were saying aversion, but they were actually calling it a version - opps) Probably. I went in for my non-stress test on Wednesday. They hook you up to monitors to check the baby's heartrate and your contractions. After about 10 minutes, the nurse came in and asked if I could feel the contractions. Uh....Yeah! I have been feeling them since I was 28 weeks. She told me I was contracting, on average, every minute, but sometimes the contractions were lasting longer than a minute. At 28 weeks I was contracting every 2 minutes. Then she asked the last time I was checked and I told her at 28 weeks. I am 36 now. She told me it was time and had the doctor on call come and check me. I was 2 cm and 30% effaced. I am still suppose to have a month to go! Granted, you can be 2 cm for weeks before you have the baby, but I have no clue how long I have been at 2 cm. So the doctor on call talked to my doctor and they told me to try and hold out until Monday when they can perform the version. Hold out, huh, like I am controlling any of this :). They want me to be at least 36 weeks in case they have to deliver (there is info on the slight risk through the links above). When I made the appointment for Monday, we were suppose to discuss the version and perform it the next day or so, but now that I am dialating, they want to do it asap. So I am guessing it will be tomorrow. So, wish me luck. I am hoping it works and that I only have to do it once!

sad day for the truck

2006-11-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

Last night on his way home from work, Matt was in an accident. He is fine, just a little sore. More mad than anything, this was his first wreck, ever. He was driving down the main street on base, going about 35 mph, and the other guy pulled out in front of him to make a left turn. Matt just t-boned him. Luckily, it was the other guys fault, Matt had the green light. It was also raining really hard. The other guys car is completely smashed on the passenger side and the truck's front is all caved in. I am sure Matt could tell you all the details, something about the radiator being cracked, among other things. I just see it as smushed. Its not drivable, so we are going to be sharing a car for awhile, which is going to be a pain, because I have doctors appointments a couple times a week. We'll work it out. We are hoping the other guys insurance will pay for a rental. We'll see. Even though its a pain, I am just glad that no one was hurt, especially Matt.

Tent Sale!

2006-11-06T09:29:00.000-05:00

This weekend was alot of fun. Matt and I spent Saturday running around together. We went to the annual tent sale at the exchange on base. It was BIG! The tents took up most of the parking lot and had everything in them. They had all the electronics you can think of, furniture, kitchen stuff, appliances, etc. We actually bought a deep freezer. We had been talking about getting one for awhile now and it was a great deal, so we went for it! I just want to go to Sams and stock up. I am planning on getting some quick, easy dinners to put in there for after the baby comes, or even make a few things ahead of time and freezing them. I know I am not going to want to cook for awhile! Then we went on a date to a Mexican restuarant for dinner. It was yummy! Not as good as the Mexican food in Arkansas, but pretty close.

This week is going to be pretty busy. We have a breastfeeding class tomorrow morning. I am hoping to learn as much as I can, I have heard, from many, that it can be pretty difficult, but everyone in unique, so who knows. I also just got a call this morning from Labor and Delivery that my doctor wants me to have a weekly non-stress test. That is where I go in and they hook me up to moniters for about an hour to make sure baby is still doing well. With gestational diabetes, the placenta has a tendancy of not working as well, or even not working at all, at the end of your pregnancy. With a normal pregnancy, they will let you go up to 42 weeks without worring about it, but with GD, they start watching it around 35 weeks. I dont mind, I get to go in every Wednesday, starting this week, and lay around for an hour and listen to my baby's hearbeat. Sounds rough, huh? That night we have lamaze. Its going well. Matt made it through the birth videos like a champ and I pretty much get a back massage every week when we learn relaxation techniques. Friday is the Marine birthday ball. Its a formal affair and is pretty much like prom, yet with older people. I was planning on going, but I am having a hard time spending over $150 (that was the cheapest and not very cute) on a formal maternity dress I will probably never wear again, and thats on top of the $60 a ticket. Between Christmas and having a baby, the next couple of months are going to be expensive. Plus I dont know if I can last all night in heels, its hard enough when you're not pregnant! So we will see. I think that is all that is going on, I am probably forgetting something, but oh well.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Doctors Appointment

2006-11-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

I went to my doctors appointment this afternoon. Baby is still breech. We discussed all the possibilities. He is going to give me until I turn 36 weeks (Nov 12) for baby to turn around himself. If he doesnt, they are going to perform an aversion. That is where they use their hands on my abdomen to physically turn the baby themselves. If it works, they are going to just watch me until I go into labor naturally. If it doesnt, I can either wait to see if he turns on his own or be scheduled for a c-section after that or up to about a week before my due date. They wont let me go to my due date if he is breech. The problem with waiting to see is that if he doesnt turn and I go into labor, then there would have to be an emergency c-section. If it does work and then later he turns back, they can try the aversion again unless I am in labor and then it is too late, they cant perform an aversion while you are in labor. The doctor did a quick ultrasound today and said that there is plenty of fluid for him to turn around in, so now it is a waiting game. Cross those fingers you guys!

Ultrasound Update

2006-11-01T14:08:00.000-05:00

Matt and I went to the doctors this morning for our growth scan. I am mad at our little guy. (OK, seriously I'm not, but I want to be) He decided in this last week that he wants to be breech. Last week at our doctors appointment he was head down, he has been head down the whole pregnancy, but this week he turned for some unknown reason. I am hoping that he will go back, if not, he will have to be delivered by c-section. Not really what I want to do. He is sitting with his bottom in my pelvis, one leg bent with his elbow resting on it, and the other leg straight up over his head and the arm down by his side. Sounds comfy, huh?

The ultrasound tech took his measurements. They measure the head, abdomine, and thigh bone and from that information they get his weight. He is weighing in at 6 1/2 lbs. He is only suppose to be 5 lbs right now. He is 2 1/2 weeks ahead of schedule, at least. She said that it is not from the gestational diabetes. When you have a large baby due to GD, their abdomines are very large and round. She said that you can sometimes even see fat rolls. Our baby's abdomine was the only part of him that was measuring normal for his week. She said he is just a big baby. She said he has long legs. I wonder where he gets that? Not from me! I'm kinda scared that none of his footed sleepers will fit, I guess we will have to wait and see.

I dont know exactly know what is going to happen from here. I see my doctor for a regular check up on Friday and the ultrasound tech said he will discuss the options then. She checked with the doctor who was the consultant for the day and he said that they wouldnt do anything until at least 36 weeks. I am 34 1/2 right now. A week and a half. I have a ton to do if that happens! We'll see what my doc says. I am just suppose to drink tons of water and rub my belly in a clockwise motion to get him to turn. Hope it works, the tech said they would check again on Friday to see where he was. I'll let ya'll know what he says!

Happy Halloween!!!

2006-10-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news

2006-10-25T08:42:00.000-05:00

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 33 week check up. Things are going great. The baby's heartrate was good and I am measuring normal. I do have a growth scan (ultrasound) next Wednesday just to make sure of his size. The doctor felt him through my abdomen and said he felt like the baby was a normal size. As long as he is within normal range I wont have to be induced. We'll see :) The doctor did look over my blood sugar results and there were a few numbers after I had eaten that were not where they were suppose to be, even though I had eaten the same thing before and had gotten a good result. He didnt think it was enough to put me on insulin (my morning readings were great - which is what they really look at the most), so he put me on an oral medication that should lower my sugars. I see him in 2 weeks again, so I guess we will see how its going then.

Matt and I have our first lamaze class this evening. Should be interesting. Dont really know what to expect. Its from 6 - 8:30pm for the next 5 Wednesdays. I guess they have a lot of info to give us! The more info, the better!

We ordered the glider and the dresser for the nursery this week. We should be getting those soon. I am super excited! Then I can start putting things away, instead of in a pile in the middle of the room. After we get them, I will post pics. Stay tuned, it may be a week or 2.

My Mom came to visit

2006-10-15T16:49:00.000-05:00

This week was a ton of fun! My mom came to NC to visit us this week. It was the first time anyone on my side of the family has come here. It was completely random. The week before she called me and asked what I was doing the following week. Of course I had no plans, so she told me she was coming to visit and sure enough, she came! We spent the mornings and most evenings just hanging out around the house and chatting (poor Matt, he is not used to 2 talkative ladies in his house!). The afternoons were spent with me showing her around Jacksonville. We went to a few shops around town and of course I showed her the base. One afternoon we went out to Emerald Isle and walked on the beach. It really is quite weird if you knew us, we are the 2 most unlikely people to go to the beach, but it was beautiful. It was around 70 degrees and a little overcast. Maybe thats why I liked it. I hate the heat. I would go to the beach all the time if it was like that. It was sad to say goodbye on Saturday, but it helps that they will be back in December when the baby is born.

We did take some pictures at the beach and a few turned out pretty good. The ones of both my mom and I didnt turn out at all, but the scenery ones and a couple of me turned out ok. Matt told me that over the last 2 weeks, my belly has started to look very pregnant. so here is a update. 32 weeks!!!! 8 to go!

Updates on the dramatic life of Lindsay

2006-10-02T14:10:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon I met with the diabetes councelor. I first had to watch a 30 minute video about gestational diabetes. It was made in the early 90's and was quite funny. Not intentionally, but it was so corny! I was glad I was the only one in the room because I was laughing the whole time. It had great information in it, but come on, hire a few decent actors. Anyway, then I met with the councelor and went over my new diet and how to test my blood sugar. I was afraid they would try to cut out all my carbs, but it is really about spreading them out all day and pairing them with proteins and such. The goal is to keep my sugar levels steady and not having highs and lows. Its also about eating healthier carbs, not junk food. Its not the worst. I have to eat small meals throughout the day (6 of them - well 3 small meals and 3 snacks) which is the hardest part for me. Even though I am eating the same amount of food, maybe even less, I am just eating all the time. I also have to test my blood sugar 4 times a day in order to make sure my levels are within range. I really dont mind it. If you find the right spot on your finger, you dont even feel it. I know you dont believe me, but there have been times I had to see if I did it because I didnt feel it. If you get it in the wrong spot, it is a little sore. There have been a few of those. I am still learning. Overall, gestational diabetes is a little bit of a pain because it requires more planning (meals and time for testing wise) than I am use to, but I can handle it for a couple of months.

I went in today for my 30 week check up this morning. 10 to go!!!!!! Maybe 7. After 37 weeks, the baby is considered full term and can be delivered with no problems. Can you tell how excited I am getting that this is almost over? I cant wait until the next stage when he is here, but, man, I will be happy not to be pregnant! Everything looked good. The doctor looked over my sugar levels for the weekend and said that they looked good and therefore I should just keep doing what I was doing. He is going to be doing a growth scan (an ultrasound where they measure the baby) around 34 weeks. In a normal pregnancy, you would already have had your 2 ultrasounds, but since the diabetes and ulcerative colitis, the doc wants to see if the baby is growing normal. I am measuring normal, but who knows. He should be about 3 lbs right now. I am just excited to see the little guy in a few weeks. I now start going to the doc every 2-3 weeks. I am starting to feel quite at home at the hospital. Is that sad? I think it is. Oh well. So for the first time in a few weeks, I can actually report pretty good news. Knock on wood. I hope it keeps up!

Gestational Diabetes

2006-09-28T12:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning I took my 3 hour glucose tolerance test. I had failed my 1 hour test (which is very common) so I had to take the 3 hour one. You are on a special diet, high with carbs (to see if your body can handle the sugars), for 3 days. Then the night before the test, you have to fast for 12 hours. When you go in, they take your blood and if your sugar levels are normal (which it takes an hour for the results to come in - which really makes it a 4 hour test) then the test begins. They wont give you the drink with huge amounts of sugar if your levels are already high. You have to drink that sugary drink and get your blood drawn every hour for 3 hours. Yes, that means you get stuck 4 times. I have bruises on my arms; they're just a tad sore. If you fail 2 or more of the 4 tests, you have Gestational Diabetes. I got my results this morning and I failed 3 of mine, so I have GD. (click on that to read more about what GD is) I am going to get a call from a diabetes councelor in order to set up a meeting with them in order for them to teach me what to do. I have to change my diet to add more protein and less carbs and I will have to check my sugar levels a few times daily. It will be a change for me. I live on bread and pasta. If I dont take care of it, I might have a very large baby (because he takes the sugar and gets fat, literally) and there are also health risks with his heart and other things. He might also go into insulin withdrawl after he is born. So, it is very important that I take care of myself. It should go away after birth, but I have a 2 in 3 chance of getting it with other pregnancies and of developing type 2 years later. Come on December!!!!

Guess where we spent yesterday afternoon

2006-09-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

Guesses? Anyone? Anyone? Thats right, Labor and Delivery. My home away from home. I started contracting again, 5 an hour. I called and they told me to put my feet up and drink tons of water. I guess this is the cure all for them :) If they didnt stop, I was to call back in an hour. As you can guess, they didnt stop. I had 6 the next hour. They told me to come in and get checked. I went in, got hooked up, etc. It was my regular doctor on call, so he knew all my history. He checked me and I was not dilating. He also did an ultrasound. It was great to see the little guy, no pics though :( Baby looked great, moving all around. I think he made the doc frustrated because baby wouldn't stay still for anything. The amniotic fluid level was fine. Pretty much everything looks normal except I am contrating. They did this test on Saturday where they swab the cervix and if it comes back negative then there is a 99.9% chance that you will NOT deliver in the next 3 weeks. Mine was negative, so I think that made the doc feel better about the contractions. If it was positive, then there was a 50% chance (or something like that) that you could deliver in the next 3 weeks. He said it could be a UTI (urinary tract infection) (which I called this morning to get my lab results and they were negative - so no UTI) or it could be my norm. Yeah, my norm. That means I am going to be dealing with these for the next 3 months. He said he could give me meds to stop them, like they did Saturday, but thats temporary. They would just start again some other time, like they did. No thanks, I dont want to take meds if I dont have to and if it doesnt really do any good. So, you might ask (ok you might not, but I did) how am I going to know if something is wrong if I am always contracting? He told me that since this is my norm, pay attention to what I am feeling and if anything feels different or changes that will be my cue. Makes sense I guess. I have an regular check up in 2 weeks, and I guess we will see how I am doing then. So, I guess this will be a long 3 months. Oh well. I am just happy that the baby is doing great. Wish it was December.

Saturday Night at Labor and Delivery

2006-09-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Wasn't exactly where I was planning on spending my Saturday evening, but I guess the saying is true, life happens when you make other plans. All day Saturday I wasn't feeling the best. I had been having contractions on and off all day and was just really nauseous. Around 3 in the afternoon I started contracting more, around 4 an hour (plus smaller" cramps" in between). I looked in my pregnancy books and they said that this is when you should put your feet up and drink more water. If this doesnt work, call the doctor. I did what it said and the next hour I still had 4 major ones plus the smaller cramps were getting stronger. So I called the labor and delivery nurse and she told me to put my feet up and drink a half gallon of water. Of course, I told her I was doing this, but she told me to drink the half gallon over the next 2 hours and if I get more than 5 contractions call back. Guess what happened. I got 5 and 6 contractions over the next 2 hours. I called and they told me to come in. This was around 7pm.

So we go to L&D and I get hooked up to all the moniters. My contractions were showing on the moniter, but they were small. The doc came in to check and she was feeling my belly and told me that the contractions felt stronger than they were showing, so she moved the moniter just a tad and boom! Conraction .... contraction......contraction. Perfectly spaced and pretty strong. At this time we had been there for around 2 hours. The doc did a series of exams and test and nothing was coming back wrong, but I was still contracting regularly. They decided to hook me up to a IV and get some fluids in to me. They told me that being dehydrated may be the cause. Did they not just make me drink a half gallon of water on top of the ~8 glasses of water I had already drank that day! So they pump 2 bags of fluid into me and an hour later... still contracting. At this point we had been there for a little over 4 hours. They decided to give me a shot of something (wasnt really paying attention to the name, something medical sounding- all I heard was shot = stop contractions). They give me the shot in the back of the arm, ouch! Within a few minutes, no contractions. Woo-hoo! But the side effects were the shakes. Didn't tell me about that one. I started shaking unconrollably. Teeth rattling, the whole 9 yards. Matt had to hold me up to get me dressed and walk me out of the hospital, because my legs were shaking so bad. It lasted for a few hours.

So after they stopped, they let me go home. It was after midnight, almost 1am. We had been at the hospital for around 5 hours. This morning, I am not contracting, but I feel like I have been hit by a mack truck. I guess a total of 8 (or more counting the ones during the earlier day) hours of contracting, emotional junk, and the shakes really take a toll on the body. I am just laying low, keeping the feet up today. They have no idea what caused this, they think it was just a freak thing. I just have to watch myself and take it easy. I hope that is the last contraction I feel until December :) Sorry this post was so long, it was a very busy (and scary) night, as you can see. I am glad that its over.

Wheres my cat's head?

2006-09-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

I was picking up around the house earlier and was putting some books back in our bedroom. I walked in and noticed this:

Ok. What happened to Daphne's head? I just had to get a picture! I was laughing so hard! I got closer in order to figure out how she was in there and this is what I found. Comfy looking huh?!?

Preggo pic

2006-09-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

Matt and I were talking to his parents this weekend and Virginia told me she wanted to see how big I was getting, so here I am! This was taken last night around 10pm, so please excuse how tired I look. I feel HUGE, but when I compare myself to others in the same week, I am on the average/small size. Scary thing is how much bigger I am going to get! I have heard you grow the most in the last trimester. I am in my 27th week, which is the first week in the third trimester. 13 weeks to go! 3 months! Crazy!

Matt + Sunday = Happy Little Trees

2006-09-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

After a bit of cleaning (a.k.a. - throwing crap away) on Saturday morning we took an exciting trip to Home Depot and snatched up some painting supplies for the nursery. Lindsay used some cop-out about being pregnant so here I am painting the room.

It isn't exactly mind stimulating.... well scratch that. The fumes are definitely doing good things for me. I expect to finish it up next weekend. If you all behave then maybe we will get some pictures.

Death of the TV and a cricket

2006-09-07T09:12:00.001-05:00

So, yesterday afternoon I was watching a little tube. Nothing special, I think it was the food network (normally if the tv is on, there is a 80% chance it is on the food network - why? who knows - I just love it) Then, out of nowhere the screen goes blank and it starts making this high pitch screeching sound. So I turn off the reciever (we have dish network - one of those DVR things) and when I turn it back on there is a message that it is doing a hard disk analysis, which could take 45 minutes it tells me. Well, I am not the most technically savvy person, so I leave it alone. Then a new message pops up that says my hard drive is corrupt and all data will be deleted and restarted - just press ok. I am mad at this point, we have like 30 movies that we have recorded and have only watched a few of them. So I wait until Matt gets home and ask him what to do. He tells me that there is nothing we can do and just press ok. I do just that and the stupid thing keeps putting up the message saying that your hard drive is corrupt and nothing else. So, Matt calls dish network and after conversing for a few minutes, the guy tells Matt that the reciever is broken and that they will send us a new one. Ok. No problem. Then he tells us it will be around 5 working days to get it. Thats going to be next week! Oh well, no prime time tv for us for a while.

So you are probably wondering what a cricket has to do with this. After the tv broke, Matt was playing online and I was reading a book. It was very quiet in our house. Then the noise came. CHIRP, CHIRP, CHIRP!!! A stupid cricket decided to make its home in the siding in the wall outside our living room and next to the bedroom. It sounded like the cricket was sitting in between us - it was that loud. This is not the first night we have heard him, but with no tv to drown out the noise it was way more than annoying. And the stupid thing wouldnt stop and take a break! It was constant! So after the 5th time starting a sentance in my book because all my brain was doing was listening to the chirping, I sent Matt out there with the Ortho Home defense spray (love this stuff! I would have done this myself, but being prego, I cant) He sprayed the base boards and a few minutes later - quiet. Nothing, nada. Blissful quiet. I felt bad for killing the cricket, but my sanity depended on it. Little did I know, the sucker survived. He made himself known at 3 am this morning. At least he wasnt in the wall anymore, I think he was somewhere in the yard, but that little guy is LOUD! He is still chirping right now at 10:30 am.

So while I was preparing to give a funeral for my tv and the cricket, I guess only the tv will need one. So while you watch prime time tv tonight, think of us. I am probably going to go to the library and get a few books for my entertainment in the evenings. Which we all know reading is better for your brain than tv anyway.

Random Wednesday Thoughts

2006-09-06T07:21:00.000-05:00

We survived the storm with nothing more than some lost sleep and a little house damage. The wind ripped off a little drip edge flashing but nothing too major. On a tropical storm scale of one to ten, I would give Ernesto a really strong eight. He had some nice huff 'n puff but was still too big of a wuss to be a full fledged hurricane. I'll post a pic of the minor damage later if the wife doesn't get around to it.

We had a CRAZY weekend. I mowed the lawn on Saturday. Lindsay cleaned the house. I'm still kinda on the adrenaline rush after that madness.....

In all reality it was a nice relaxing weekend. Coming back to work feeling rested is a nice change of pace.

P.S. - When I get older, I want to be this guy: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-872124450700446493

And so the rain begins...

2006-08-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

'nuff said.

Mission: Weekend Organization

2006-08-29T09:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a little crazy. I finally started on organizing the nursery, which turned into organizing the house. It all started with rearranging a few thing and then I had to organize the area where I was going to put those things and it just snowballed from there. Any closet this house has, I was trying to organize it. I even dragged Matt into it and made him organize his part of our closet. We ended up going through all our clothes and collecting things for Good Will. I think we have around 3-4 black trash bags of clothes (that doesnt count the other "stuff" we are getting rid of). I think Matt got rid of enough clothes to fill about 1/2 of a bag. So you know what that means, the rest was mine. I am freaking out a little because my wardrobe was cut by half (realistically more)!!!! Granted, I dont think I had worn some of that since high school (so I know it wouldn't fit anyway). Why did I have clothes from high school? I think it was a hope in the back of my mind that those would fit again. Even if I got that small again, I am having a baby, the body will never be the same. Not even considering that those clothes are out of style now anyway, well, my style at least. I know what you are thinking, you are prego, your clothes dont fit anyway. True. But my rule was if it didnt fit before I was prego, then I know that it wont fit after, so it went away. Even though it was a little scary, it feels good that the clothes I have in my closet are nice and fit (or will...probably....hopefully) after the baby is born. The sad thing is, there is still a ton of stuff to do to get the nursery ready. Oh well, at least we started. I just cant get sidetracked again.

Yesterday, I had a doctors appointment. Just a check up. Everything was great. Baby is doing well. I did have my glucose tolerance test. If you have ever had one, you know that its no fun. They give you a drink thats a little like an orange soda, except it has like 5 times the sugar, or something like that. You have to drink it in 5 minutes and then sit there for an hour (you have to sit and you cant eat anything - including gum). You can only drink a little water and get up to go to the restroom. At the end of the hour, you get your blood drawn. They told me they would only call me if I did not pass. So I am hoping that I dont get a call. If I do, then I have to take a 3 hour test. No thank you. I am a little nervous about it, because I didn't feel well during and after it. I guess we will see. I also had to pre-admit myself into the hospital for delivery. I am like "What! I am only in my 25th week! We have a little time" but I guess you never know. They also gave me my info packet for the 3rd trimester (which begins after the 27th week) So I guess we are getting closer. SCARY! December is closing in! It is very exciting, dont get me wrong. Its just also very scary. Well, it seems I have written a novel once again, hope all of you had a great weekend.

Kickin' weekend

2006-08-20T09:59:00.000-05:00

First, I just wanted to say how great it was to see all of you guys the other week! And a BIG thanks to Kat and Karl for having us over to their house, we had TONS o' fun! Any of you guys are welcome at our house if you ever find yourselves in the NC (and I hope that happens!).

This weekend started out great! Friday, the baby decided that he would let Matt feel him kick for the first time that night. We were sitting there watching tv and the baby started going nuts! Might be the Kit Kat I had just eaten, haha! Up until this point every time Matt would lay his hand on my belly, the baby would stop moving, no matter how much he was moving before and he would stay still for an hour or so after that (I hope this talent stays after the baby is born, that would come in handy at bedtime). This time, he kicked Matt hard! Matt's face was priceless! Where is a camera when you need it? The look was pure shock - eyes huge and mouth open. He actually jerked his hand away! It was so funny! Matt got to feel him a few more times that night, it was great! I have a feeling this is going to be a more regular event as the baby gets bigger and bigger.

Saturday, Matt cleaned out the garage. I know, we live a wild and crazy life. It looks great now though. He also went through the tools his grandfather gave him. I dont think I saw him for a few hours during that process. He loves his tools! Other than that, its been a real quiet weekend. Hope everyone had a great one too!

New Baby Pics

2006-08-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

This morning we went in for our 22 week ultrasound. This is the big ultrasound where they check all the organs and stuff. They made sure that the heart had 4 chambers, the brain and brain stem looked normal, the kidneys/bladder/stomach were working, and that the umbilical cord had the 2 or 3 veins (cant remember which number). Among other things. They all checked out and the baby looks great. He now weighs exactly a pound. I forgot to ask how tall he is. Oh, well. Yes, he still is a boy. We had that confirmed too, woo hoo!! He was a squirmy little thing. He kept moving all around, stretching and trying to "stand" (straighten out his legs). His head was down in my pelvis, so he must have flipped from the last one, where he was sitting cross legged in there. He had a full tummy and bladder. The tech joked that it looked like he had a big breakfast. I said, he must have taken it from me, because I am already hungry again! I dont know when I will get another ultrasound. Since I am a little higher risk because of my ulcerative colitis, they might want to do a growth scan in a couple of weeks to make sure my body isnt taking away his nutrients. But since he is perfect weigh and growing great, they are not to worried. Of course I dont want anything bad to happen, but I wouldnt mind seeing my little guy in a few weeks again. Well I better go. I have a few things that need to be done before we leave tonight. See ya'll soon!
This is a side profile. He is a little turn away, so it isnt very clear. The small white circle above the chest is his hand. It is curled in a little fist. The black circle in the middle of the belly is his full stomach.

This is another view of the profile. If you look closely, you can see tiny ribs. The stuff above the belly is the umbilical cord.

Kosses invade LR

2006-08-01T08:32:00.000-05:00

Thats right, next week Matt and I are coming to LR. We are getting in on the 4th (Saturday) and leaving on the 13th (Sunday). This is more than likely going to be the last time we are in LR until after the baby comes. We would love to see as many of you guys as we can. Saturday (the 4th) we are probably going to be exhausted after the drive (16 hours in a car can take alot out of you, especially the preggo here), but after that we dont have any definite plans. Hope to see all of you soon!!!!!

Our birds are stupid

2006-07-29T11:10:00.000-05:00

So, I finally got around to hanging our bird feeder outside at the beginning of last week. Guess how many birds have visited........none. They come to our yard, they look around, they chirp up a storm, but do they eat the food I leave out there for them? Nope. I dont think they know what a feeder is. I hope one of them gets curious and gets on the feeder, and after that, I should think we are in business. I hung it in view of our kitchen window, the one the cats love to look out, for their viewing pleasure. I thought that they might have scared the birds away, but the birds are still hanging out in our yard, sometimes even under the window. They just dont get on the feeder. Stupid birds. Oh well, I hope they learn.

Wonderful Anniversary

2006-07-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

So, yesterday, Matt and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and we had a great time. Matt got off work early and surprised me with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. He is so cute. He knows that I love mixed arrangements and every time he gets me flowers they are always different and beautiful. This time they have Gerber daisies, white daisies, ireses, and a few other flowers, some of which I dont know the names of. They are bright pink and purple, the picture really doesnt do them justice. Then he surprised me by taking me to a new restaurant on Emerald Island, called Portofinos. It is an Italian restaurant and wine bar, and has only been open for a little over a week. Unfortunatly, I couldnt try the wine, but the food was excellent. I had fettucine carbonara and Matt had the veal parmesan. The portions were huge, so, of course, we have leftovers. Overall, it was a very relaxed and wonderful evening. Thank you, Matt, for the enjoyable evening and for being my amazing husband!

And its FRIDAY!!!!!!!

2006-07-14T11:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday to all and to all a great weekend! This week flew by! I really dont know why the week went by so quickly, but you wont hear me complaining. Matt went to Raleigh on Tuesday and had to spend the night for some training thing on Wednesday. Something about learning to get along with contractors. Does anyone else find this funny? I mean, we are professionals and have to have special training so that we can get along with each other! Crazy world. I wanted to tag along, but since it was an all work and no play deal, I didnt. Maybe next time.

This weekend I am planning on going through some of the stuff we have in the office, i.e. soon to be nursery. When we moved in I had planned on making it a nice office, but somehow it turned into a semi-storage room. When we were going through boxes and wanted to keep something but had no idea where to put it, it ended up in the office. Now we have an office with stuff in it that I dont want to get rid of, but have no idea what to do with. I think I just have to jump in and go for it. I have to admit though, that this is the 3rd weekend in a row that this has been my plan and it hasnt happened, so we will see :) We still have a little bit of time. I just dont want to be 8 months preggo and trying to do it. That would be a site!

Next Wednesday is Matt and my 3rd wedding anniversery. I cant believe that it has been 3 years already. What is even crazier is that last week we had been together a total of 7 years!!! Thats a long time! Good old day camp.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!

I hate cleaning the house

2006-07-11T08:30:00.000-05:00

So this weekend wasnt one of the most exciting weekends we have ever spent. I cleaned the house and guess what, you cant tell. I seriously dusted, vacuumed, cleaned the kitchen and its what, Tuesday, and it looks like I should vacuum again. What happened to all my pretty vaccuum lines?!? Oh well, at least I know its clean. I think the pretty vacuum lines only stayed for a day, and what a nice looking house it was that day. I think someone needs to create something that makes them stay for longer. I would pay for something like that, granted, not alot for it, but maybe a little.

Other than cleaning, we went to a friends house to watch a UFC fight on Pay-per-view Saturday night. It wasnt the most exciting fight I have ever seen. The fight we wanted to see only lasted a little over a minute and the ref called it. I was happy with the outcome, but come on, couldn't you last just a little longer for entertainment purposes. Sure, if it was me, I would want it over as quickly as it could be, but #1 - I am not a guy, I dont get the whole beating each other up thing and #2 I would never have a job where my face looks like hamburger after it was done. But we had fun. We didnt get home until 2 am! I know to most people that isnt too horribly late, but we NEVER stay out late. Toward the end of the evening, I was falling asleep on the couch. I dont think I am made to stay up late anymore, I am getting old :) or maybe its the whole preggo thing, I swear I could go to sleep at 8 pm and be very happy. I made oatmeal raisen cookies to bring over. They were good! Matt finished them on Sunday. That surprised me because Matt doesnt have the biggest sweet tooth, but I am glad they are gone so that I didnt finish eating them.

Yesterday, I did laundry. I know, I live such an exciting life :) I did talk to Andrea for over an hour. She gave me advise on baby stuff, among other topics. (thank goodness for my sister and sisters in law - I would be lost without them) I havent really gotten anything yet for the kid, except for one big box of diapers (we are going to stock up on a few - spread out the spending). Babies are money pits! But oh well, they are worth it. We have gotten a few hand-me-downs and that is wonderful! Our next ultrasound isnt until August and I cant wait! Well I better stop typing, I just wrote a book. I guess that happens when you dont update often. I will try to be better. Ya'll have a good week!!!!!

2006-07-04T10:20:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!

Its Raining Cats.......

2006-06-26T10:23:00.000-05:00

So, on Sunday, it rained ........ and rained and rained some more. It was raining when we woke up and it was raining when we went to sleep. Thunder even woke me up at 4 am this morning. This was not just a drizzle either. This was a downpour! All day! I really thought our house was going to need to turn into a boat. Insane as we are, Matt and I decided to go out in this and go to lunch and to Lowes. Needless to say, our clothes are still hanging out to dry (I even had an umbrella!). Even the cats were prepared in case the rain got into the house. Looking out the windows now, I see beautiful blue skies. I hope they stick around!

ITS A BOY!!!!!

2006-06-22T16:18:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Sorry we havent updated in a while. I wanted to wait until I had new baby pics. We went to our ultrasound on Wednesday and found out we are having a BOY! It is a little early (16 weeks) to find out, but the ultrasound tech said (and I quote) "it is pretty prominent" and she was sure it was a boy. We have another u/s at 22 weeks, so we will confirm then. We arent going to paint the walls blue yet, but after seeing the u/s I am sure its a boy. We are super excited! I was shocked with how the little guy looks like a baby now. Last u/s he looked like a little grey gummy bear, now you can see arms and legs and bones. Matt laughs at the 2nd picture. He says that it looks like a demon baby! Hey, we are all allowed to have bad pictures of ourselves! He is kind of funny with his mouth open like that! Thats all the exciting stuff going on right now with us, other than Matts 25th B-day today!! Happy birthday Hubby!

Sad, Sad Day

2006-06-05T16:06:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately about 500 of our tadpoles are no longer with us. It rained last night and overflowed our little pond, taking a large number of our little friends with them. They are currently making our sidewalk spotted. I would have saved them if only I found them earlier. But do not fret. We still have millions still going strong. They have grown amazingly in the past week. Maybe we will have some itty bitty frogs within the next week or so. If we do, I will have to post some new pictures. So, stay tuned!

Frogs Anyone?

2006-06-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

Ok this story needs a little back ground info first. A few months ago Matt decided to be Mr. Home improvement. When you walk up to our house, there is a sidewalk from the driveway to the front door. The sidewalk is about a foot/ foot 1/2 from the house. Well, when they built the house, it looked like they had extra concrete from somewhere and just decided to fill up the space between the sidewalk and our house. It looked bad! It was a different color and it was pored in really messy. So Matt went out and bought a sledgehammer and went to work on it. That was fun! We are planning on putting in plants and flowers, making it into a pretty garden. Well, the first time it rained, we found out that was not going to work. It fills up like a pool! To fix the problem, we just need to get gutters. Well, thats one thing on a list of needs (Update - we are getting a quote from a guy Matt works with in the next week or so) So pretty much we have a pond in our front yard every time it so much as drizzles. So the other night we get home and there are about 15 frogs on our front sidewalk using our "pond" as there personal swimming hole. They were SO loud. CROAK! CROAK! All night long! Well the next day. Matt goes out and was planning on emptying the pond and he comes back in and tells me to come out there. Well, needless to say, those frogs were busy. There are about 8 BILLION tadpoles in our pond.

Yes, all those black dots are tadpoles and that is a small corner of our "pond". There are thousands more. Frog legs anyone?

Its been awhile

2006-05-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry that we havent posted in awhile, I have been out of town in Little Rock. I had such a good time seeing my niece and nephews (we have 2 now!). I was staying at my parents and they only have dial-up. I only checked my email once on that trip. It was strange. It was crazy busy, but I had a great time. I missed Matt of course, but it was great to see the fam. I took my camera with me with plans of taking tons of pics of my niece and nephews, but my camera never actually left my bag! How sad is that! So sorry no pictures to post of my trip. I do have a picture to put up that was taken this week though. New Baby Pics! We had another ultrasound yesterday. I am about to start my 10th week on Saturday. The ultrasound technision said that babies at this stage always remind her of teddy bears and they do! The head is large in porportion to the body and the arms and legs are little round bumps. The picture is not as good as seeing it on the screen. The baby was super active. It was kicking its little legs and swinging its arms all around. Matt was joking that it looked like it was doing the twist. I shouldnt be able to feel it move until between the 16th and 22nd week. If it stays as active as it is now, it will be an interesting last few months! This should be the last picture for a while. My next ultrasound isnt until the 16th week and then between 20th and 22nd week. We should be able to tell what the sex of the baby is on that one!!! Fun stuff! Well that is all that is going on with us. I am excited that it is Friday! It stinks though that Matt has watch on Sunday, which means he has to go on base at 8 am on Sunday, stay until 8 am on Monday and then stay for work on Monday. Boo! Oh well, nothing we can do about it. I guess I better stop typing, seeing as I have already written a novel. Hope you all have a great weekend!

December 9th

2006-04-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

The Kosses become a family!!!

2006-04-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

Real Life called. It has taken Matt and Lindsay hostage.

Yeah for Friday!

2006-04-07T13:25:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, how exciting! Its a beautiful day out as well, a lovely 77 degrees! I have all the windows open. The cats are loving it. They just sit at the window enjoying the breeze. We dont really have anything planned for this weekend. We will probably hang out around the house and lay low. Matt is really busy at work, so the weekend is for doing nothing, is there anything better? Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We plan to :)

April

2006-04-04T10:42:00.000-05:00

Well its April, April 4th to be exact. So here are some fun facts about April.
Its Chocolate Eaters Month - need I say more.... CHOCOLATE!!! Do you really need a month designated to eating it? I dont.

Its also National Humor Month and National Smile Month - I think these go hand in hand with eating chocolate.

The first week in April is National Bake week (begins the first Monday). - Are we sensing a theme yet?

Also Easter Sunday. We all know the true meaning of Easter, but you know there is usually chocolate involved as well.

Well I did always like April, the flowers, Spring, etc, but I have to say, I appreciate it even more now. So go, eat chocolate, smile, bake a chocolate cake, and eat some chocolate Easter candy. You have special permission this month.

P.S. For all you teachers, the last week (beginning on that Monday) in April is Teacher Appreciation Week. So know you are appreciated. Maybe your students will give you chocolate.

Toys

2006-03-31T09:32:00.000-05:00

So I was reading an article on MSN about the most popular toys (the article came out around Christmas, dont ask me why I am only reading it now). It had this little chart from Forbes on it and it listed the most popular toy for each decade. It made me think of the "good old days".

Forbes The most popular toys
Era Toy
• 1900-1909 Crayola Crayons
• 1910-1919 Raggedy Ann Dolls
• 1920-1929 Madame Alexander Collectible Dolls
• 1930-1939 View-Master 3-D Viewer
• 1940-1949 Candy Land
• 1950-1959 Mr. Potato Head
• 1960-1969 G.I. Joe
• 1970-1979 Rubik's Cube
• 1980-1989 Cabbage Patch Kids
• 1990-1999 Beanie Babies
• 2000-Present Razor Scooter

Isn't it funny how toys have changes in all these years. Do you guys remember the Beanie Babies craze? I mean people would fight over these things! How crazy people get about toys. It was kinda cool to read about the history of toys. Did you know that a stone yo-yo was created in Greece in 1000 BC! I still say that some of the best toys were some of the simplist.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10387831/

Monday

2006-03-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

Well its Monday. How about a history lesson. On today, March 27, 1905 fingerprint evidence was used to solve a British murder case. Only 3 years earlier, the first English court had admitted fingerprint evidence in a petty theft case. The Farrow case was the first time that this cutting edge technology was used in a high profile murder case.

To read more about the case you can click on the link below. If you really dont want to read any more about the case, you can still click on the link and enter any date in history you want. There are also catagories that you can change to find out more. If you want to, enter your birthday and find out what was happening in the world when you came into it.

http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?month=10272955&day=10272992&cat=10272943

2006-03-17T11:37:00.000-05:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

JAWS!!!

2006-03-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

Yeah, those are all shark teeth! 73 to be exact. And you wonder why we won't go in the water!

We spent a wonderful Saturday at the beach, where we enjoyed 80 degree weather. As we strolled, we found all these. Hope y'alls weekend was as great as ours.

Strange Days at Work

2006-03-07T12:07:00.001-05:00

So what does your workday consist of? Lets see... today began with a nice little 3 mile run and then some meetings till mid-morning. Then, me and the boys grab machettes and axes and tromp off into the woods to clear out one of the running trails. We have a few captains coming to visit the office and we are gonna drag their salty old butts on a 5.5 mile trail run. I kinda feel sorry for them but at the same time it is really our only chance to make them hurt. At the moment, I'm getting a little lunch and then I'll be off to more meetings and crawling around the nether regions of buildings. I laugh to think that I got a whole college degree to do this stuff. Would you trust me with $70 million? For some reason the Navy thinks it is a good idea...

News Flash!!!!

2006-02-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

Mondays suck.

That is all, carry on smartly.

Well I guess I've been told

2006-02-27T10:14:00.000-05:00

Well, since I've been told by more than one person that we need to update more, I am taking it upon myself to do so. I told Matt last week that we need to, but there is really nothing new going on. I know, I know, I say that all the time, but it is true. Matt has been getting home at a normal hour this week, but I think that may change soon because he just got awarded 2 new HUGE jobs, which is a good thing but it is more work to an already full workload. Overall though, things are going well around here. We did go to a Mardi Gras party this weekend. One of the guys Matt works with had it at his house. We ate a lot of gumbo and drank a hurricane ( just one - those suckers are strong!) Anyone doing anything fun for Mardi Gras? That was all we had planned. It was fun, even our cats got into the spirit. (those arent the best pictures of them - they are alot cuter, but they weren't so sure about what was on their necks :) ) I dont know if you can tell in these pictures but some of the beads on their necks are little fishes. Too cute!

Lola

Daphne

2006-02-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day!!!