Happy Birthday, Ernie :)

A day late, but it still counts, right?



"Let's go play with the sprinkler! Hmm, you go turn it on."












"Hey! I didn't mean when I was right on top of it!"













"Outta my way!"
"No, you get outta my way!"
















"I didn't do anything......"










"Wait, we're going to the beach? YAY!"












"What, you didn't know that mini skirts and big bellies are all the rage right now?"









"You're twenty-how old?! Are you sure?"





"You're still taking pictures?! Oh yeah, I was supposed to show off the hair. oops."

(p.s.: it's now the color it was supposed to be starting almost 23 years ago, if that gives you any clue...)



This definitely deserves some yellow cake with strawberry-cream cheese topping. mmm-mmm-mmm!

by "popular" (read: my mother's) demand:

Our home from October-January was cozy, to say the least. Mr. mira and I agreed that it would be a great place to camp out in if we were on a road trip, but I'm glad I'm not spending my 9 months there, that's for sure. I think I'd get stuck in the bathroom, and I KNOW I wouldn't fit in the kitchen, especially if mr. mira wanted to look in the fridge for anything. BUT, it was a home, and it was free. Living with his sis and bro (and his sis) and our neice and nephew for about 6 weeks was...a learning experience...as well. I won't tell you what we all learned. ha ha.

This is the first thing you saw from the "front" (read: only) door when you looked to the right: Our bedroom. The two tall cupboards had closet rods in them, but we chose instead to shove some shelving into the space to accomodate a few more shirts. The bed lifted up on hinges pretty easily, and we stored all of our shoes underneath, along with other random items that we didn't want to look at on any given day.










Then, as you look ahead into the trailer from the "front" door, we see the "kitchen." Yeah. food was stored in the upper cupboard, the cat's litter box was in the lower cupboard, and the bare essentials of bake/cookware were in the cupboard to the left of the door (visible in the next pic). I'm amazed that we didn't eat out every. single. day. One consolation: the full size fridge. Our neighbors, who had the fancy trailers with a pull-out section and 4 bunks, only had a 3/4 size fridge. neener, neener.


From the bedroom door into the rest of the trailer, we see the aforementioned full sized fridge and pots-n-pans cupboard (the tv was on top of this), the living room couch (read: SIL and BIL's pull-out bed), the dining room table (read: school table for the niece and nephew and later the computer desk). Both seats had storage underneath for all of the kids school stuff and toys, and the table could come down and make a bed, if need be (need never be'd for us, so to speak). The armoire where E and J kept all their clothes was quite nice, if you opened the door, the mirror's reflection gave the impression that the trailer was twice as big. really.
Immediately behind that (along the right wall) is the bathroom sink, complete with a medicine cabinet and tiny lower shelf for various and sundry toiletries.
Through the door at the end of the trailer is the "bathroom" (read: stink room). It was big enough for the toilet, which you can see the top of, and the half-sized shower, which you cannot see. The only floor space was in front of the toilet. no joke.
Along the left wall in the back (behind the table) is the 2 bunks where JT, T, and Bekah slept. After all of our esteemed guests left, D stored his guitars on the top bunk and I put canned goods on a shoe rack on the bottom bunk. There was also room under the bottom bunk, but it was a pain to get to, so we didn't use it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I thought you had to be smart to be in the military

I recently I bought a new pair of boots and this is what I found in the box















honestly, I remember taking some sort of aptitude test before signing papers.
oh well.

local coverage of the storm

(mom-you could make this into a link if you want...)

this is our local station's summary of the destruction on the MS gulf coast. There are a bunch of links, the first two are the before and after video that really help give some perspective.

before and after

bloodsuckers

There are many kinds of bloodsuckers. Today, I present to you the top three, in order of annoyance.

#3
"These flies are ferocious biters with a seemingly unsationable thirst for blood...The bite is generally painless, but usually results in a small flat red spot that within 12 hours becomes excruciatingly itchy... Scratching No-see-um bites can double the length of time they require to disappear and can lead to infected sores."
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-see-um)

I may never go to E (sis-in-law)'s again.





#2

"As the larval flea progresses in its development, the tapeworm inside it is also progressing in development. By the time the flea is an adult, the tapeworm is ready to infect a dog or cat...
Inside the host’s stomach, the flea’s body is digested away and the young tapeworm is released. It finds a nice spot to attach and the life cycle begins again. It takes 3 weeks from the time the flea is swallowed to the time tapeworm segments appear on the pet’s rear end or stool." (The Tapeworm Page)

The dog had fleas. The cat now has fleas. And a tapeworm. Lovely. He really really hopes we never give him a bath again.

#1

"Citibank understands the financial challenges you may face after college ends. Therefore, we offer four repayment plans to make managing your monthly budget a little easier." (http://studentloan.citibank.com/slcsite/fr_r_pla.htm)

Definitely the thirstiest bloodsucker of all. grr.

Psalm 16

Keep me safe, O God,
I've run for dear life to you.
I say to God, "Be my Lord!"
Without You, nothing makes sense.

And these God-chosen lives all around-
what splendid friends they make!

Don't just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I'll never treat god-names
like brand names.

My choice is You, God, first and only.
And now I find I'm Your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then You made me Your heir!

The wise counsel God gives when I'm awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I'll stick with God;
I've gota good thing going and I'm not letting go.

I'm happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I'm firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell-
that's not my destination!

Now You've got my feet on the life path,
all radient from the shining of Your face.
Ever since You took my hand,
I'm on the right way.

(King David, CEV)

I'm trying to make a habit of reading to the baby every day, ostensibly for his benefit. In reality, I'm finding it just as much to my benefit to read out loud what was written so many years ago. Once I get over to the unit, I'll add some of the classical authors to my repertoire, but for now I'm sticking with the Bible. Grandma gave me the _Message_ for Christmas (thanks!) and I am loving it. It kind of feels like I'd imagine a people group who has never had the scriptures in their own language feels when they can read and understand for the first time God's words to them. It's not quite the same, since I've grown up with bibles in the english language, but this version really does makes me pay attention to what I'm reading instead of skimming words I've skimmed many times before (always a good thing, hehe).

I can't even begin to point out how many of those verses made me stop and go "hmm." Suffice to say, "I've gota good thing going and I'm not letting go."

too bad you can't put smells on the internet;

so this is eddie, the chocolate lab I had for a week. She smelled.so I bathed her
twice

she did some disgusting things on my floor, more than twice. And she was just a little too hyper for me. Of course I didn't realize this until after I gave her to my buddy across the street. That dog needed a little more than a single wide trailer to get her puppyish enthusiasm out. plus she ate E's flipflop.well, overall she was a good dog and we are sad to see her go, but try to move a cat, a dog, a brand new baby, and me to italy... E wasn't having it, so I guess we'll stick with the cat, who bye the way is having an official name change..... Spaz.he won't notice; he doesn't come when he's called anyway.

alertness in the womb

interesting article, if you are so inclined. (3 pages)

G for Goofy?

finally!

I have a bump big enough to show through clothes, lol. Behold the product of 20 weeks time.

Oh, and here's a link to a really neat view of how a baby develops, and how the mom's guts squish to make room for baby. slide the bar back and forth, it's strangely amusing.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Yesterday I had to squish my belly in order to see the scale. I don't know why I bother, I'm pretty sure it's broken, but the fact remains.
Today I found out that babies flying with Airtran must be at least 14 days old. Hmm. I hope that fits in with the other dates we have to abide by...
Tomorrow marks 20 weeks, which makes me half-way there. yay!

want to test your squinting skills?

First is the head. They had a better view on the screen, but the tech couldn't quite catch it on film. All facial features appear to be present and accounted for.













And here we see a very blurry leg and foot kicking my very full bladder. They tech said, "well, you REALLY don't need to drink that much next time." oops. I suppose this is my opportunity to publicly admit that D was right, that much OJ cannot be good for anyone. It did wake the baby up, that's for sure!














and here, if you were looking at the actual picture instead of a picture of a picture, you would see the umbilical cord and the "turtle" that caused D to buy a Green Bay Packers sleeper and matching hat on ebay a few days ago. =)














All in all, we were both surprised at how much we did recognize without needing the technician to point things out. I guess it helped that he was moving around so much, so you could see actual fingers flexing instead of a white blur near the head. If we want to fork over $250, we can have a 4d ultrasound with pictures on disc to take home with us. Alas, we are too cheap. Anyone who wants to take up a fund is welcome to do so ;-) The doc said that everything is normal and in the right places, and the size is consistant with our dates. What fun.

the pregnant brain

is definitely taking over. At least that's my latest excuse. I used to be able to blame the rigors of school and planning a wedding. Then all I had to fall back on was the color of my hair. When D left last year, I had a ready-made excuse to be scatterbrained again. Then he came back, and I was excuse-less once more. Until now.

example number one: this morning, I told D he could have the shower once I finished rinsing the water out of my hair.

example number two:
Last week, I made an appointment with the local WIC office to see if I was eligible for a "grocery supplement." They gave me a short list of what to bring, and told me where to go. I wrote everything down like a good little girl, including directions, and put the paper somewhere safe. So safe, in fact, that I have yet to find it. SO, on Tuesday while I was getting ready for this appointment, I decided to call a few of the WIC offices to confirm my appointment, figuring that once one of them said, "yes, you have an appointment here today," then I would know where to go. Well, they won't confirm appointments over the phone, so I had to trust my intuition. Bad idea.

The first office is located right outside the main gate. Very convenient. Unfortunately, that's not where my appointment was. Too bad, because I would have been 10 whole minutes early! The distribution center was my next destination. Luckily, it turned out to be the right place, and I was only 10 minutes late. Irritating to me, but nobody else seemed to mind.

The appointment went well; I forgot to bring proof of residence, but they let that slide. The second problem was with proof of pregnancy, since our insurance co. took the only doctor's note that I had. I tried to show ultrasound pictures as proof, but I guess that isn't good enough. Luckily, they let that slide as well, provided I brought a note and proof of residence before attempting any more pickups. No problem. Once the paperwork was complete, I was informed that I didn't qualify, since D makes too much (wow! there's a first for everything!). The lady conducting the interview told me to go on to the nutritionist anyway, just in case.

After studying both my list of what I'd eaten for the past 24 hours (including homemade whole wheat bread with real peanut butter, and real pineapple, yum) and my iron count, the nutritionist decided that I did qualify after all. Apparantly, I was missing one serving of fruit and had a low iron count (11.6 out of 12).

Since I was already at the distribution center, they let me make the first package pickup, which was an experience in itself. I never realized that WIC food came with choices! I am now the proud owner of:

*15 quarts of milk (the kind that comes in boxes, like soy milk does. Little bit of an aftertaste, but I think it'll be fine for homemade yogurt)
*24 oz. peach/grape juice (yum!)
*24 oz. orange juice (kinda weird tasting. Like tang, only not)
*24 oz. pineapple juice (haven't dared on this one yet)
*1 lb. black beans (good thing, I couldn't find them in our excuse for a commisary, and I've been craving* cuban black beans and rice for a couple of months now)
*16 oz. montery jack cheese (maybe my new favorite)
*16 oz. cheddar
*48 oz. liquid eggs (good thing I like to bake)
*1 big box of dry milk
*3 boxes of cereal (including a couple of brands I don't buy because they're usually too expensive!)

yay. Our government really does do things right sometimes.
________________
*well, I don't really have cravings so much as I think about foods that I haven't had in awhile, and I keep thinking about them every once in awhile until I have them. For example, I thought about french fries for about 3 months before finally asking D to pick some up on his way home from work. I am currently thinking about a small hot fudge ice cream sundae. I don't think I'll wait 3 months this time.
________________
ps: before anyone (ahem, mom. ahem, Dr. Sam) complains about my diet, I am a VERY healthy eater, overall. Goodness knows I've done enough food diaries for various classes to prove that =)

All the "in" babies know sign language

I'm hungry!












Sorta like Italian Sign Language

This link is actually for children

$69 a night. for the record.

Navy Lodge Sigonella
PSC 824, Box 2620, FPO AE 09627-2620
011-39095-713-0190 - Fax: 011-39095-713-0206
DSN Reservation Line: 624-4082

web site: http://www.navy-lodge.com/overseas/sicily/sigonella.html

Amenities include: Fully equipped kitchenette (dishes, pots, pans, etc.), microwave, dining table, TV/VCP, air conditioning, cribs / high chairs / rollaway, iron/ ironing boards, radio/ clock, hair dryers, ice, snack vending, on-site video rental, mini-mart, and laundry facilities, playground, and complimentary coffee (in lobby).

Within walking: Navy Exchange, commissary, 7-day store, movie theater and hospital.

Short drive to: NAS II.

Attractions: Mt. Etna, beaches, local markets, great cuisine.

Accommodations: 52 units with air conditioning and private baths. Family accommodations. Smoking or Nonsmoking is a request only not a guarantee.

4 months and finally looking a bit pregnant:

AND, we have kickoff! Well, actually it's more like flutter-off, but dan felt a little something last night that he thought was just my stomach, and I was quick to assure him that my stomach does not do that on its own. I felt a couple of bona fide kicks recently, fun fun.

if Gulfport, MS isn't the end of the earth...

then Sigonella, Cicily certainly is! Yup, it's official: we're going to Italy for the last rotation of D's military career (3 yrs). I'm just now starting to research since our internet is on the fritz; so far B knows much more about everything than I do--she would add "what else is new," but I digress. All I know is that this summer is going to be crazy...
Here's their main website, in case you get bored. I'm looking at it for the first time myself as we speak.

as for kid news... I may have felt the first "flutters" a couple of times over the past couple of days. Not sure, because about the time I started paying attention, my stomach would growl. Interesting that my scale says I haven't gained any weight yet. I think it's broken.
Next dr's appointment is next friday, complete with ultrasound...maybe mom'll have to stop calling the kid "little ed" and I'll stop confusing grandma when I alternate between "the kid," "him," and "her." It's a wonder there aren't rumors about triplets going around, haha. My MIL already thinks it's twins, something about I'm fatter than she was at this stage. I'd post a 4 month picture, but our internet is on the fritz, so you'll have to wait just a bit longer. I'm sure you're biting your nails.

what's "see you later" in italian??

14, 15, 16

month 4
week 14: You are now fully into the beginning of the second trimester of your pregnancy. Essentially, for the next 3 months, your baby will grow and grow. It's full system is in place and just needs to expand. The organs are mature by now.
Your baby's heart beats at twice the rate of yours.
The arms continue to develop. The bending of fingers and the clenching of the fists is now possible. Our baby is a whopping 3 1/2 inches long and is 1 to 2 ounces. S/he begins to practice inhaling and exhaling movements. The eyes and ears continue to move and develop, the neck is still getting longer, and the baby's chin no longer rests on his/her chest. The hands are becoming functional, and the baby is beginning to learn to move/use them (probably more reflex than anything). At this point, our little one is receiving all of his/her nourishment from the placenta.
Over the course of this week, a doubling in size takes place!

15 weeks
week 15: If you have an ultrasound now, you may notice your baby sucking his/her thumb. The bones are getting harder each day. The baby's skin is very thin and transparent; you can see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo, a very fine hair, covers the body and will continue growing on the baby until around the 26th gestational week of pregnancy.
Your baby begins to hear!
The surrounding amniotic liquid helps the external sounds to travel through from you to him/her. It can hear mother's heart, stomach and especially the voice. Some external sounds can also be heard.
On the other hand, the brain is not yet mature enough to interpret this resonant information.
16 weeks
week 16: If you haven't already, you may begin to feel movement as the baby's bones harden. The legs are now longer than the arms, and s/he is moving those arms and legs frequently, especially since there's still lots of room to move within the uterus.
Fingernails and toenails are growing too. In fact, some babies need their nails clipped right after birth!
Your baby now weighs about 2.8 ounces (80 grams) and measures about 4.6 inches (116 millimeters) in length. Although your baby's first muscle movements were involuntary, this week brings the first voluntary muscle movements. Your baby can hold his or her head erect, and the development of facial muscles allows for a variety of expressions such as squinting and frowning.

(copied from several websites. The funniest thing is when they mention size - some are nearly twice the estimate of others!)

my new project

so E was going to post about some yogurt that she made, from scratch, but that ended up on the floor. She was quite proud of herself too, oh well. So we need some sort of something in the works to put on the site. All that to say this is where my extra time and money is going.

yup this is my baby


this is where someone I know quite well hit the side of my car (we won't say who though)

and this would be where an awning support from an rv hit my car during the hurricane, thankfully the rest of the rv landed nowhere near my car. We are also quite thankfull that the Navy paid for the body work needed due to the hurricane. I'll get you some more pictures when it goes to paint (in my friends garage on base) and a completed project shot or something too, don't hold your breath though it'll be a couple of months.

oh yeah here is our other work in progress but this one will take more like 6-7 months

this didn't happen in my friends garage though.

didja hear the one about the pickle?

Now measuring between 2 and 3 inches from crown to rump, the fetus is busily doing his stretching and kicking exercises. All major organs are in place, and her brain, nerves, and muscles are starting to function. Although his gender was determined at conception, external genitalia won't fully develop for another couple of weeks. At that point, a sonogram may be able to show whether you're carrying a boy or a girl--if your baby will cooperate and face the camera!

SOOOOooooo........ :-) Yes, we're quite happy about the whole thing. Especially the timing. If everything works out according to my perfect plan, the moving company will arrive about 2 weeks before the kid (which is so much less offensive than "it" and so much quicker than "him or her") is born and pack up all of our earthly posessions, aside from what fits in our very practical nissan sentra, and transport them to D's next duty station, where they will await our arrival. Though we do not know where this is yet, we will soon. D's a 2nd class now, so he has quite a bit more say in where he goes this time. We're praying for Norfolk.

Then, we'll have the kid on or around July 20, say goodbye to our teeny tiny 32 foot FEMA trailer--which has been an answer to prayer, don't get me wrong--and head north within the week to spend a "relaxing" month at home, showing the kid off and adjusting to being mommy and daddy.

FINALLY, we'll take off and settle into our new apartment. I'm sure that by then I"ll really appreciate having a bathroom of my own that I don't have to back into (pics of the trailer are coming, I promise), and D will appreciate not having to pause his game and move most of his body every time I want to get from the kitchen to anywhere else. On a medical note, I got my referral letter (actually it was a recorded phone call), so I can make an appointment with my OB/GYN today. yay.
~e

Narnia

Yesterday we went to the Chronicles of Narnia. It was funny but the car ride was boring. My dad made me put down my book. My favorite part of the movie was when Lucy holds out her hand to the fawn for a while and then finally says, "You shake it." Then the fawn says "Why?" Lucy says, "I don’t know". My next favorite was when Peter holds out his hand for the beaver to come to him but the beaver says, "I am not going to sniff you if that’s what you want." Then when Edmund says (because the horse is rearing) "Whoa horsie." The horse says "My name is Phillip!." On the car ride home we stopped at Tops to see if they could cook us a pizza but they were closing in a few minutes, 15 exactly, so we went to Mc Donald’s and got 2 things off the dollar menu. I got a double cheeseburger and fries. Tim paid for me and himself and Dad paid for Nick and himself.
by Carolyn

Is it just me, or is there a striking resemblance?

By week 10, all of your baby's vital organs have been formed and are starting to work together. Brain growth increases rapidly by this week - almost 250,000 new neurons are produced every minute in your baby's brain!

This week, your baby graduates from being an embryo and becomes a fetus.

Up to now, your baby's framework has been made up of cartilage. From the 47th day, the first bone cells begin to replace this cartilage. The bones for arms and legs begin to harden and joints begin to form.

The face and jaw is formed, but teeth and facial muscles are only just starting.

All of the vital organs are in place: heart, lungs, brain, intestines. However, they are all still immature and will develop further.

Starting to look like a real human being now. (according to who?)

(due to the strange 38 vs 40 week by week pregnancy calenders online, I mistakenly told the parents to be that their little darling was the size of the pickle ornament I gave them. It will be 7 centimeters in 2 weeks, not now. This week it is only 3 cm. Luckily, s/he still strongly resembles a pickle. They are week 8/38, or 10/40. )

The Weather is Here

wish you were beautiful. . .


welcome(?) back, E and D.

and yes, besides the true outside temperature, that is the true inside temperature this morning. We are doing our part to save gas. Well, at least the type supplied by National Fuel Gas Company.