5 years ago...

I stumbled across this picture from Chris and my first Christmas as husband and wife (5 years ago.) We lost a lot of pictures about a year or so ago when our external drive crashed – and I thought most of these pictures were gone. It was fun to find a little reminder of our days past. =)

We were living in a small apartment in Bradley, IL. I was finishing up my senior year of college while Chris was preparing to go to SOBC (Signal Officer Basic Course.) We were extremely tight on money – so buying a tree and Christmas decorations was out of the question at the time. I had a few decorations from home, so we just decorated a little plant we had in the apartment. It wasn’t much, but it was what we had – and it was wonderful.

Who would have thought that 5 years later – we would be in Germany – with an 18 month old adorable son – and another on the way! So much has happened between that time and now. The One Constant has been our Heavenly Father – who has provided guidance through the ups and downs – the valleys and mountains – the good times and hard. We have had some amazing experiences – we’ve had some difficult experiences. We’ve relished the blessings and learned from the hard times. God has been so good to us! I thank God for bringing Chris and I together – I feel so blessed that we get to walk this journey of life together. He truly is my soul mate. I thank God for brining Luke into our world – life hasn’t been the same since – it’s been better then I could have ever dreamed. Luke has brought such joy to our hearts – we couldn’t ask for anything more! I also thank God for Baby Bee. Though we have not met the little guy yet – I already know that he is a gift from God. I am looking forward to meeting him! As I reflect on these things this season – I am reminded that God sent his only Son as a babe in a manger – for us! He loves us THAT much! I can’t even begin to comprehend the magnitude of what God has done for us. Thank you God – for all you have done – for your Love – for sending your Son! How could I ever express my gratitude?!


I can't help but wonder where the next 5 years will take us. With our future firmly placed in God's hands - I look foward to what life has in store for us.


Tonight we went to Baumholder’s Annual Tree Lighting. It was c-c-coooold. We ended up walking because we knew there would be no parking. We had purchased an adorable Christmas outfit for Luke to wear (since we knew there would be pictures with Santa after the Tree Lighting Ceremony.) So we got him dressed up, bundled up, and covered up in his stroller. Then we proceeded to the Rheinlander. They had some songs - the high school band - and some little speeches. Then Santa arrived on a fire engine! We actually almost got run over by the fire engine - but we managed to get out of the way. =) Anyway - after Santa arrived, he had the honors of lighting the tree. After that, we all headed inside for a picture. I think the whole post was there - so we ended up waiting in line for over an hour. When it was Luke's turn - he was not happy. We didn't get any decent pictures - but we didn't really expect him to be a big fan either. In 15 years, we'll all (including Luke) look back and laugh about it all. After that, we bundled back up - walked back home - and had a late supper. It was well past Luke's bedtime by the time we got him down. Tomorrow we hope to go to K-town. Chris has the day off, so we thought we should take advantage of it and finish up our Christmas shopping...not to mention there's a Mexican restaurant there...YAY! =)

Well - I'm gonna post these pictures and head to bed. Maybe I'll actaully sleep tonight...that would be nice! =)


Getting ready to go...

Waiting for Mommy and Daddy to get ready...


A closer look at his cute sweater...

All bundled up in his stroller...

Though it appears we're standing in a blizzard - we really weren’t. It was really really foggy out though...


The Tree Lighting!

Santa coming in on the Fire Engine...

Chris and Luke in the Rheinlander...


Luke and I standing in line...

Luke with Santa...see what I mean?! (Look at Santa's face - Priceless!)

Mommy to the rescue!!!

Our little family...

what a cutie!

Halloween Fun!

Tonight we had Keith and Monica and their children – Elizabeth Anne, Mary Catherine and Will over for supper and some Halloween fun. All the kids had been sick over Halloween, so they weren’t able to go out trick-or-treating. So we decided it would be fun to let them get dressed up and get together for the evening. They all looked SO cute in their costumes! Mary Catherine was a ladybug, Elizabeth Anne was a bumble bee, Will was a frog and Luke was a monkey. They all looked so precious! Here are some pictures…



We thought it would be funny to take a few Halloween pictures in front of the Christmas tree! =)

Sleep…what is that again?

I miss sleep. I’m not even sure I know what sleep is anymore. =) When I was pregnant with Luke – I don’t remember having a hard time falling to sleep – I do however remember throwing mini-temper tantrums when I woke up for the 3rd or 4th time in the middle of the night to have to go to the bathroom. I vividly remember muttering under my breath and stomping to the bathroom – seething the whole time. Then Luke came along – and what a joy and blessing he is, but sleep has never come easy to the little guy. In fact, he didn’t start consistently sleeping through the night until he was a year old. And – if baby/toddler doesn’t sleep through the night – neither does mommy. Enter Baby Bee – just as Luke begins to sleep through the night. =) I have had the worst time sleeping with this pregnancy. Here is a typical night: Even though I’m exhausted all day long – I can’t for the life of me fall asleep. I go to bed – read a low-key book (which has always worked in the past) and wait until my eyes are too heavy to read another word. I lay the book aside and toss and turn amongst my mountain of pillows until I find a semi-comfortable position. Then I close my eyes and BING – my brain turns on. I can’t stop thinking about stuff....“The baby will be here soon…I need to do this and this and this and this…” “This and that is going on – and I need to get ready for it in these ways…” “This situation is happening – how do we deal with it…” And so on and so on…So – I try to focus on relaxing and not thinking. As I relax – Baby Bee wakes up and starts rolling around – kicking, punching, dancing…on top of my bladder of course. I try to hold off – but a pregnant lady just can’t hold off that long – no matter how hard you try. So I roll (yes, literally roll) out of bed – stomp down to the bathroom – stomp back – try to find a comfortable position and close my eyes. Awww – sleep is starting to claim me – finally! Then – from the other room – Luke wakes up from a nightmare or a tummy ache or something along those lines – screaming at the top of his lungs. I wait to see if it’s serious. He continues to scream…I roll out of bed…go to check on him. He’s upset – must calm him. Finally he calms down – and I attempt do go back to bed…find a comfortable position – close my eyes…and then my bladder signals again – “I just went!” I tell my bladder. “Too bad” my bladder laughs an evil laugh. I throw the covers off – stomp back down to the bathroom…and it just goes on like that – a vicious circle. Finally in the wee hours of early morning – my body takes matters into its own hands and falls asleep. A few short hours later – Luke is wide awake demanding release from his poopy diaper and crib. Sigh – I feel like I just fell asleep. =) Maybe Baby Bee will sleep through the night before his first birthday…

Speaking of sleep – I have recently come across some information about a sleep issue I’ve had ever since I was a teenager. It’s called Sleep Paralysis. Most people look at me like I’m from outer space when I talk about it – but it’s comforting to know that it’s an actual condition – and one that isn’t harmful in the least. What I always perceived to happen in one of these episodes is that my brain would wake up before my body would – leaving me unable to move or talk or anything – and yet be completely aware of what is going on around me. It’s always a scary feeling – and very unnerving. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe – or that someone is in the room and I need to wake up so I can talk to them. But for the life of me – I can’t move or talk. I can open my eyes though. I know – it’s weird. After several episodes as a teenager – I finally figured out that if I could make myself go back to sleep – then wake up again – my body and brain would wake up together. It’s quite bizarre – and I always dread an episode – as on occasion I still have them – but after reading a little about it, I feel better knowing that there isn’t something wrong with me when it happens – and I’m not the only one that deals with it. Here is a link to the actual description of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis.

So – my question is – has anyone else ever had one of these episodes? From the articles I’ve read – it sounds more common then I ever thought. It makes me realize how powerful our brains are! I read somewhere once that we only use about 10% of our potential brain power…imagine what it would be like to unlock the other 90%!!! =)

Anyway – I know this was an odd blog – but hey – it’s what was on my mind…=)

Now I must go clean…for the millionth time…the cleaning never ends…ahhhhh!

Here are more pictures from our continued decorating...it's still not finished - we just do a little at a time. Maybe by Christmas, we'll have it all up. =)


Luke enjoyed putting up the tinsel...


Putting up the first ornament...

Quick Update...

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! I thought I would post a quick blog and at least update the pictures. It’s getting pretty late here and I’m exhausted, so this will probably be relatively short.

Chris got back from the field on Wednesday night. Luke had already been in bed quite awhile, so we decided not to wake him that night. Thursday morning – I got Luke up, changed his diaper and tried to get him to go into the living room where Chris was waiting for him. However, he found the multitude of Chris’s Army bags in the hall and thought it would be a lot of fun to stop and play with those. I kept calling and calling him into the living room - but he was enthralled with the Army bags. Finally, Chris came to the living room door – Luke saw him – froze for a second – then ran into his arms. He’s been attached to Chris ever since.

Right after Luke saw Daddy...

Luke refusing to leave Daddy's side...

This was so funny - he refused to take his afternoon nap - so we eventually got him up. What did he do? He comes in the living room - lays down on the floor in front of where Chris was sitting on the couch, and just smiled at him...too cute!

Luke wanted to show Chris everything - he took out all his books and toys and made sure Chris saw them all. He also had to show off his new driving skills. Here he is trying to drive while drinking out of a closed soda can. He was supposed to give the soda to Chris - but instead thought licking the top of it would be more fun.

Thursday we made up all the traditional fixings for Thanksgiving. It took hours to prepare it all – and minutes to scarf it all down! =) It was yummy though! I made up a plate for Luke – very excited to give him his first Thanksgiving feast (last year he was still eating baby food.) Sadly – he spit everything out – except for a few bites of stuffing and a roll. We enjoyed the feast though. =)



Luke's plate...

Today we did a little Christmas shopping and started decorating for Christmas. Luke thought it was pretty fun. He’d get bored here and there and go off and play – then come back and see what new things we were doing. We only got the tree up and the lights and angel on tonight – so we’ll finish our decorating spree tomorrow.

Luke and Chris getting Christmas things out of the trunk...

Luke helping Daddy get the tree out of the box...

Trying to put the tree up on his own...

Putting his toys in the tree...

Luke was enthralled with the lights...he was "trying" to plug them into the couch and tree...

Here he is trying to put the lights up - all in one bundle...

Luke thought it was the coolest thing when the lights actaully...lit up!

Luke helping Daddy put the lights up...

Smile!

Putting the angel up...

This next week will be fairly busy. We have a trip to K-town planned, a tree lighting to attend, a Hail and Farwell, a dinner with friends, a trip to Trier, flu shots to get, etc. I should have lots of fun pictures to post! Then Chris heads back out for part 2 of his training at the end of the week.

I’m now 32 ½ weeks pregnant. I had a doctor’s appointment last Wednesday and he said all was going well. 7 ½ more weeks to go! I’m already almost as big as I was when I delivered Luke. I think I could out-waddle any penguin at this point! =) As long as the baby’s healthy and on track – it’s all good.

Alrighty – I’m gonna sign off for now – but I’ll try to post a bigger blog later. I really do hope all is going well for everyone! Sorry I’ve been behind on my blogging and e-mails – I’ll work on catching up. =)

Love and miss you all!

Who needs clothes anyway?

For some reason – Luke refuses to take his naps on Sunday. I’m sure it’s because our schedule and routine is different – and he gets overtired which makes him fight sleep even more. Anyway – this Sunday was no different. He slept for a few minutes, but spent most of the time chattering and fussing in his crib. After our second nap attempt of the day – I went in to get him and this is what I found:

He’s done it before – but I’ve never been able to capture it in a picture. It’s pretty normal for him to throw his stuffed animals and sippy overboard – but only when he’s really discontent will he take his pants, socks and slippers off and throw them over the rail. I also found it incredibly funny that he decided to throw all of these items in a neat little pile. I noticed he’d been pulling on the corners of his diaper too – won’t be long until that comes off and is added to the pile! Hopefully it’s not while I’m this huge and pregnant. I can already see the scenario in my head – Luke doesn’t want to nap – takes off his clothes and diaper – poops in the crib – and then his huge pregnant mommy has to figure out how to bend over the crib - to get the crib mattress out - to clean up the mess. YIKES! I can barely bend over the crib enough to lay him down for his naps and bedtime! =)

Anyway – just thought I would share the funny photo. I’m off to bed – but will post more later.

A Novel...

Wow – I guess I didn’t realize how long it had been since I’ve blogged. With all the colds and the pregnancy exhaustion – I’ve been living in a bone-weary-tired-haze for the last few weeks. Thankfully – it looks like we’re on the mend. I know I said that in my last blog – but unfortunately we weren’t so lucky. We were both feeling horrible again by the end of the day…and the day after that…and the day after that…and so on. But this time – I pray we are actually over the worst…and that we aren’t susceptible to the next virus that is lurking around post.

In Pregnancy news: I am a day away from being into my 31st week of pregnancy…only 9 more to go. In some ways this pregnancy has seemed to go pretty fast – in many other ways – it feel like I’ve been pregnant for an eternity. I have a feeling that this is going to be a pretty big baby. I know I’m going to surpass how big I was with Luke by the end of it all. I have a doctor’s appointment next week. I’m anxious to see how I’m measuring. I’m NOT so anxious to see how much weight I’ve gained since the last appointment. I guess I could get on our bathroom scales, but I can’t really see over the belly to see the numbers. Another question I have – what do my feet look like again? =)

The Braxton Hicks come and go. They usually come when I’ve been up and working hard. It really is a bizarre feeling. I didn’t really experience them in my last pregnancy. They don’t really feel like contractions – at least mine don’t. It feels like this really weird tingly tightening feeling in my whole stomach. It’s not painful – but can get pretty uncomfortable. If they get bad, I make myself sit down for awhile until they subside.

I have thankfully been able to take my Pre-Natal vitamins again. I know it’s late in the game, but hopefully it’ll help get some extra nutrition to the big guy. He’s growing so fast – I’m sure he needs anything I can give him at this point.

Today it’s been snowing off and on all day. We had our first snow a few days ago – and it looks like winter is here to stay. Right now it’s beautiful to look out the window and see the big puffy white snowflakes. I’ll hold Luke up to the window and he thinks it’s pretty funny to watch it lazily fall to the ground. So far it’s not really sticking – but I think it will in a few days.

Luke is growing up so fast. I am always amazed to see his development. He’s starting to say more and more words. One of his favorites is “uh-oh!” He wants to help me do everything. Just the other day, I had to run to the Commissary for a few items. I was hoping to only make one trip from the car to the house (usually an impossible feat when you have to take the bags, the diaper bag and the kid) but I only had like 3 bags. So I handed him a bag that just had paper towels in it to see if he would carry it to the apartment (and not run off in the opposite direction.) He was SO proud of himself to be helping by carrying a bag. He wasn’t the least bit distracted to run in the opposite direction of the apartment – he was focused on getting that bag into the house. I even tried to take the bag from him so he could get up the stairs, but he insisted on carrying it all the way to the door.

When Chris was home, Luke LOVED to take him a can of soda pop. I would call him (Luke) into the kitchen and give him a can of Coke Zero and say, “take this to daddy!” He would grab it and run to find daddy. Of course – opening the can after a toddler has run through the house with it is always risky, but it’s worth the risk when you see how happy he is to deliver the can.

He has also really taken to coloring lately. Sometimes he likes to throw the crayons around the room more then color a picture, but everyday he points to the crayon box and will scribble a picture. I’ll have to post a few.

He has a shoe fetish. He LOVES to wear his shoes. He’ll bring them to me constantly and want them on. Sometimes he can only find one, but that don’t detour him – he’ll still clomp around with one shoe on.

Just this evening – he somehow managed to get a hold of one of my oven mitts. He put it on and was running around the kitchen saying “ot! ot!” I realized that he sees me put them on and get things out of the stove – which is always accompanied by me saying, “Hot! Hot!” I’m not sure he knows what “hot” actually means – but he knows it has something to do with the oven mitt! =)

Luke and I have been trying to get out of the house as much as possible. It’s been a bit tough with all the colds. But we’ve managed to get to playgroup, church and an FRG event. We’ve been meeting lots of great people along the way. This week I have a Coffee, so it’ll be the first time in a long time that Luke will have a babysitter that actually comes to our house. Monica, a friend of mine, who has twin girls (who are incredibly adorable by the way) and I are going in together on a babysitter – so the three kids will be together – which should work out perfectly. Luke is familiar with the girls, so hopefully he won’t scream the whole time I’m gone.

Last week, I took Luke into Daycare for a few hours. I’m trying really hard to take him in for a few hours each week because he’s having a really really hard time with separation anxiety right now. The only way he’ll adjust is if he’s actually put in a situation where he has to get along with other people and other kids. The Daycare facility is great and the workers are fantastic – so I feel like it’s the perfect opportunity for him to learn. So – anyway, back to what I was saying – I talked with one of the workers after I picked him up last week, and she said he was slowly getting better about being there. This was music to my ears! I think we’re making progress! Two Sunday’s ago, he stayed in the nursery the whole time – which was super exciting. Last Sunday, however, I had to go down and sit with him for the last part of the service. He’ll get there – I think it’ll just take some time and persistence. He does great in playgroup – once he knows I’m staying. I do think going to playgroup is helping him a lot though. He’s interacting with other kids and people – not to mention, it’s a great change of scenery (and way more toys!)

Wow – this is the longest blog ever! =) I guess I’ll stop for now and get some pictures uploaded. Sorry for writing a novel!

I hope all is well with each and every one of you!




Luke has started trying to "blow" his own nose!

Here he is sticking foam stickers from a craft project on his face...





Just chillin' in the house...

He's trying to dress himself now. Here he is trying to put on his socks.




Luke thinks it's quite hilarious to put a bucket on his head. Silly boy!


Here we are at the playground a few weeks ago. I caught him mid-cough.




Funny face!

Luke LOVES to color and climb. Here he's combining his two passions and climbing and coloring an empty box...

I finally had to pull the extra crib mattress out to the living room. It's getting harder and harder for me to get down on the floor to play with Luke. One of these day's I'm gonna get stuck! =) Anyway, it's a bit more comfortable for me to sit on something soft. Luke loves having it out there too. It's nice to sit on - and he loves to run and jump or fall on it. It provides him with much entertainment. Anyway here he is just relaxing - coloring a picture.


Here are some of the pictures he's colored!

These pictures were actually taken 1 1/2 weeks ago. And - I've just gotten bigger and bigger since then. I actually really like this shirt - it doesn’t make me feel quite so big. It's nice and flowy - not to mention comfy.

I'll try to post a more recent pregnancy pic soon.

Well - I'll stop writing my novel for now. =) Until next time!