Half Way! 20 Weeks

No more red shirt for me...That was WAY too tight!

It was field day and all the first graders (and their teachers) have to wear red....I have one red shirt, and Steve has 0 red t-shirts....So, you get what you get.  

Question of the day from two parents: "So, are the rumors true?"  My response, "Yes, indeed they are!"

Things I want to do before BK comes...Continued

1. Make a pie Thank you Barbra Gradin for taking your afternoon to teach me how to make a delicious peach pie!  I LOVED IT!  Yes, I already had a piece and then nibbled some more because it was oozing out.  Probably more than one piece, but it is totally worth it and it was made from SCRATCH! 

2. Go to the apple orchard (I am hoping to do this tomorrow)
3. Make a snow angel and try to make it look pregnant
4. Walk to school
5. Update my phone contacts and make it organized
6. Go to Michigan three times in the next three months (I am lucky, this has NEVER happened)
7. Go to the zoo
8. Eat a donut at the cider mill and feed the ducks with Sam and Elli
9. Take a nap with a baby (I hope our little baby will want to fall asleep on my stomach while we are sitting down in the middle of the day). Today I played with Alice and I held her in a new sling that I bought for our baby.  Having her that close was pretty fun...I think she would have fallen asleep if I didn't take her on such a long walk while she was sleeping in the stroller.
10. Send Steve a care package every month (one down - 6 to go :) Or more....
11. Donate one thing every month to goodwill I sold our old camera on ebay and listed two books on half.com....
12. Update the blog at least 4x/month
13. Teach all my first graders to read
14. Write in my journal to record all that God has done for me in this transition time
15. Take a bath
16. Get over my fear of swimming at the YMCA and just do it
17. Run/Walk at least 2x/week
18. Write for a military online magazine (I have all the info, I just need to write the article)
19. And to end it all, I want to have a baby.....Then Steve can come home and celebrate with us!

Things I want to do before BK comes...

1. Make a pie
2. Go to the apple orchard
3. Make a snow angel and try to make it look pregnant
4. Walk to school
5. Update my phone contacts and make it organized
6. Go to Michigan three times in the next three months (I am lucky, this has NEVER happened)
7. Go to the zoo
8. Eat a donut at the cider mill and feed the ducks with Sam and Elli
9. Take a nap with a baby (I hope our little baby will want to fall asleep on my stomach while we are sitting down in the middle of the day).
10. Send Steve a care package every month
11. Donate one thing every month to goodwill
12. Update the blog at least 4x/month
13. Teach all my first graders to read
14. Write in my journal to record all that God has done for me in this transition time
15. Take a bath
16. Get over my fear of swimming at the YMCA and just do it
17. Run/Walk at least 2x/week
18. Write for a military online magazine (I have all the info, I just need to write the article)
19. And to end it all, I want to have a baby.....Then Steve can come home and celebrate with us!

Weekly Pictures - catch up!

Week 16 - Look at our beautiful grass too!

The big reveal!  Right now BK is a girl!  And, unless she decides to sport some new parts, she will stay that way.  We announced to our small group friends by wearing PINK shirts (Steve's shirt is really pink, but you just can't tell - we had to go buy him a pink shirt that night at Target).

The pregnant dads.....

All those who thought BK was a boy, or didn't have a pink shirt....

And the winners are:

Garrett, Melissa, and Alice guessed right!  

Yeah, Alice you will have a little girlfriend!

Week 18:

Week 19:

And Jelly shoes that made my day from Tonya...Can't wait for our little girl to wear them!

A week from tomorrow we have another ultrasound to make sure that BK really is a girl!

Breckenridge with the Girls

Our friends are so generous and let us use their chalet for the weekend.  The girls had an amazing time away...We laughed (to tears, yes, some of us were crying), relaxed, ate good food, and enjoyed each others company.  It was a wonderful trip!

Downtown at Oktoberfest....A delicious lunch...

Posing by the cool yellow wall....

We are beautiful!

On the lift...Not skiing this time!

Awkward pregnancy picture....

Playing with the toys....

Glamor Shots!

We have way too much fun together and laughed till we cried.  We actually had to leave a restaurant because we were laughing so hard and didn't want to interrupt other's dinner!  I love these girls!!!

Thanks to Melissa for all of these pictures!!!

Mr. Balloon Hands

What is this, Mr. Balloon Hands?

No way.....


(I won't post the link here....But some of you know exactly what I am talking about)

Thankful

Things I am thankful for:


1. A skype conversation with S when he was in Maine.  I thought I missed his last US phone call but then we got a chance to skype while his plane was re-fueling before leaving the states.  What a blessing!


2. The president of the PTO who brought me flowers today at school "from one AF wife, to another"  I don't even have her kid in my class and have only talked with her once.....But she talked to S last week and remembered that this day would be hard for us.


3. A 12 pack of caffeine free coke on my desk from my wonderful teammate.  


4. A dinner date on Friday with some of my favorite teacher friends


5. A night in Breck (on Saturday)  with some of my very best friends


6. USAA for helping us with money and being so accommodating when a spouse is deployed.  I actually enjoyed the phone conversation with the insurance and credit card people (I talked to two and they were both thrilled about our pregnancy and very sympathetic to S being gone and kept saying, "well, let me do this for you.....").


7. Saving money with our trash company that automatically raised our rates..You gotta pay attention to those bills, they just keep creeping up and they never tell you that they "raise their rates"


8. Kids that I love teaching....Kids that give me hugs....Kids that want to learn and love school


9. Friends that do the following:
     a. Join me in communion when the pastor says, "Do this in two's" and I have no spouse there to do communion with
     b. Call me to invite me to random places just to let me know that they are thinking of me
     c. Let me cry on their shoulder
     d. pray for me
     e. Give me special letters that I can post around my house/work
     f. Come over to bring a pillow when they know I don't "need" it but they drive 45 minutes to do it anyway


The list goes on and on.  I am feeling pretty selfish reading over it because they all involve "me" but I just can't believe how God provides and gives me little glimpses of his love even though this time is tough.