27 Weeks!

We’re officially in the third trimester!  Exciting and a little terrifying all at the same time.

I can’t believe we only have three months left until we get to meet our little man!  This week has been pretty calm when it came to sciatic nerve pain, thank goodness.  I’ve been craving Chicago hot dogs (guess it’s a good thing we’re going next week!), chocolates (the kind that come in the box where you never know what you’re eating until you bite into it), and chocolate covered cherries.  Oh, and peppermint mochas.  I think Matthew and I are in Christmas mode already!  I bought my maternity coat this week as well.  It’s more than I really wanted to spend on maternity clothes (a coat for 3 months?!) but with our going to Chicago and my being pregnant all the way through the winter here, I needed it.  At least it’s cute!

The best part of this week was Ryan getting called into his commander’s office here.  That sounds bad, but it really wasn’t!  He basically said that AFPC (the part of the Air Force that handles assignments) is upset that our last commander didn’t tell them that I’m pregnant and that they wouldn’t have created the orders to move us if they had known.  Even if he wanted to throw the reg out the window, THEY didn’t want to go against their own regs.  So, they’re making it so that Ryan doesn’t have to check into Columbus until after Matthew is born!!!  No having to worry about him missing the birth while he’s out there, no having to figure out how it’s all going to work.  He’ll finish up training, we’ll hang out in San Antonio until Matthew is born, and then move out as a family!  I can’t tell you how big of a weight off our shoulders this is.  They’re even trying to work out a “drug deal” with our commander in Columbus so that we don’t have to use leave until after our report by date.  We’re totally fine with it if we need to, but it WOULD be nice to not have to!  We’re so thankful for commanders that care about the family and even more thankful that everything is working out so that Ryan can enjoy getting to be a dad for the first time.

Our First Apartment

At 28 and 23, most people have lived in an apartment at some point in their life.  Not us!  We both lived on campus the whole time we were in college (him because he had to, me because I was an RA), and then he bought a condo in Delaware before moving into a duplex in Del Rio and then our house in Washington.  I moved straight from my college dorm into our house.  So, while everyone else starts out their marriage in a tiny apartment and moves up to a house, we did the opposite.  It’s been quite the adjustment, but not entirely unwelcome.  I was actually super excited to live in an apartment.  Having the ability to clean the entire thing in a day is AMAZING, and it’s worked really well for what we’ve needed while we’re here.  We do wish it had a dining table, and maybe a couch that didn’t attract dog hair (since when has red velour stuffed with feathers been in style?!).  I’ve made it home with a few pictures, a painting done by our best man for us, some of my Depression glass scattered around, and, of course, uber-organized it.  Enjoy!

Yay first floor!

The puppies LOVE hanging out on the patio, watching the cars and birds

Super stylish red velour couch with the kitchen in the background

Fridge with our “where we lived” frame from Kim!

Living Room

The books that our wonderful neighbors gave us. They make me smile every time I see them. We can’t wait to get to read them to Matthew!

Laundry closet

PIT T-6 Central: aka Ryan’s Study Area (and our painting from the best man)

Having a tiny bathroom counter has been an adventure

Super deep soaking tub. Best part of the apartment!

Bedroom with our own bedspread and wedding picture with dried flower from some of our best friends in Chicago

Goals for San Antonio

Since I’m going to be hanging out in San Antonio, without my job, Key Spouse, friends (for the most part), or a big house to clean, I’ve decided I need some goals for the 6 months we’re here to keep myself from going crazy.  I will be starting RCIA (“Become a Catholic” class) on base as well so that I can finish up in Columbus at Easter, and be volunteering at an awesome organization that I’m REALLY excited about (more on that in another post).

1. (Re-)Read all of the books in the collection Ryan bought me
2. Edit all of the air show and homecoming pictures
3. Learn to use my camera and sewing machine really well
4. Hand-make something for our baby’s room (maybe once I’ve figured out my sewing machine?)
5. Come up with an easy system for making all of our food homemade, from-scratch, and healthy

Ryan bought me this gorgeous collection of some of my favorite books for Christmas last year and I haven’t had time (or haven’t made time, I suppose) to read them.  I’m going to now, though!

Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray

I have a ton of air show and 8th Airlift Squadron photos to go through and edit.  Upwards of 400.  Yikes.  At least I have nothing but time now, right?  I really want to get them done so that I can post them for all our friends who ended up in them, and show off some of the coolest planes in the world!

I have gotten reasonably good at my camera, but I want to get really, really good at it for when Baby G comes so I can get some amazing photos of our little one.  For our wedding (yes, almost two years ago), my G-ma and G-dad gave me an amazing sewing machine.  It was what I asked for, since I grew up with them making quilts for us, among other sewing projects.  I still have no idea how to use it, though, so I’m going to learn on baby blankets and cloth wipes, I suppose!

I want to make something special for our baby’s room.  I don’t know what yet (thankfully, I’m sure Pinterest can help with that), but I want it to be something they can grow up with.  Maybe a quilt, or something framed.

I think #5 is the one I’m most excited about (I know, I’m a nerd).  I can’t wait to figure out how to organize our pantry and fridge, how to prep food so that we’ll snack on something healthy and make healthy meals for every meal of the day (I got pretty good at it in Washington shortly before we left, but I want to get great at it!), and how to decorate and organize the rest of the house so that it’s as pretty as I want it and as functional as I need it.  Pinterest has gotten me very excited and given me lots of great ideas to get started.  I’ll post my progress as we go and hopefully inspire a couple of you to try some of the same things!

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17 Weeks!

We’re excited to hit 17 weeks knowing that we’re living where Baby G is going to be born!  This week has been crazy, what with flying back from Chicago, moving into our apartment, picking up puppies from my parents’, and Ryan starting his training, but we survived.  The apartment is totally put together, with every box, bag, and bin unpacked in two days, and now I’m figuring out what the heck to do with my time for the next 6 months.  I’m completely open to suggestions!

This week, I’ve been craving Portillo’s chocolate cake, BBQ (shocker), and Tex-Mex.  Luckily, two of the three are able to be fulfilled here!  I’m definitely looking pregnant instead of just big now (yay!), and Ryan’s getting a kick out of my “gah! this doesn’t fit EITHER!” every morning.  I guess it’s time to go find some new clothes!

Everyone has been asking when we find out if it’s a boy or girl.  Well, the answer to that is: we have absolutely no idea.  At this point, if we got an ultrasound, they’d be able to tell us.  Problem is, you have to have a doctor to get an ultrasound, and I don’t have one yet.  I spent 4 1/2 hours yesterday fighting to get a referral from TriCare, only to be told eventually (after talking to literally 9 different people and organizations) that I have to go to the flight doc (yes, the same doctor Ryan sees) in order to get a referral put into the system.  Then we have to wait until it’s approved to get a doctor, and then we’ll have to wait until that doctor has an opening.  So, most likely, it’ll be October at least before we know, but we promise we’ll tell shortly after that!