Hey, Stranger!

Today I'm 24 weeks, 4 days pregnant, and babygirl is the size of an ear of corn! I'm feeling every bit of it and counting down the days until she can be here and healthy. (I'm in love with her bumps though. She is so gentle and sweet, bouncing about to Stevie Wonder, until she hits the bladder... !) Her nursery is not even close to done, and we still don't have a name picked out! But, I made her a pretty quilt, so that counts for something, right?

The empty nursery. We do have some furniture in there now though.

Lately the sun is up all the time. It sounds nice, but makes midnight less exciting. They tell me it won't last forever though, so I'm soaking up every bit I can.

This weekend is the post-wide yard sale, and I'm on the hunt for a rocking chair! The husband is hoping to drag me to see Robin Hood (he swears he'll see Sex and the City 2 - twice - if I go!), and I plan on making him suffer through vacuum shopping... Fun for all!

19 weeks! Picture this plus a soccer ball...

Rockin' neices! Aren't they the cutest?!?

Alaska!

We made it!!

This place is crazy! So cold, and sunny until way past my bedtime! It is considerably smaller compared to Fort Hood, but so much more suited to Brian and I. No traffic jams yet!!

We've been really enjoying ourselves so far though. We were fortunate enough to get on-post housing the day we went into the office, and our HHGs arrived the next day, three weeks ahead of schedule! Brian has been busy getting in-processed and settling in with his new unit (which he loves, especially combatives for pt on Wednesdays!), and I've been trying to get this house put together! They gave us wayyy more room than we needed, and it seems we don't have enough furniture to fill it by a long shot!

We also have some friends already! A guy from Brian's first deployment transplanted up here a few weeks before us, with his new wife. It is sooo nice to be able to get out a little bit, and it seems like there will be lots to do this summer!

In baby news, I'm officially twenty weeks! Baby girl has a room all to herself, and we have a few clothes hanging in the closet already! We'll be finding a crib for her soon, and getting her room more put together. I'm so anxious to get my insurance figured out so I can hear her heartbeat again! I'm confident she is growing though, because this belly of mine is getting bigger and bigger.

I'm so relieved to be here, finally! Now it feels like we're really going to have a baby - so exciting!!

Gettin' busy!

So, I'm a negligent blogger... whoops! Truthfully things have been busy - and boring. (Except for the latest news, but I'm going to save the best for last!)

Our PCS has been moving riiiight along. We shipped the car, Brian cleared from Fort Hood, movers came, we handed over the keys to the apartment, and here we are, living squashed in a hotel - but only for a few more days! Oh yes, on Thursday we're trading all this sun for the mid-30s of Central Alaska! OH DEAR! Truthfully I am so excited to be moving, only good things will happen!

Annnnd, the big news of the day...

It's a GIRL!

Baby girl's profile, she kept her hand in front of her face!

My ultrasound was this morning, and everything looked good. They moved my due date up to August 30th, setting me back a week, but that is fine by me! Seeing our sweet thing bopping around on the screen was honestly the best feeling in the world! I'm just so much more excited to get to AK, find a place to live, and start setting up our girl's room... YAY!

My Brian:) I so struggle at taking pictures!

It's official...

We're going to Alaska!

Well, I am, now.

As of this week I have command sponsorship, and we have dates for the movers to come, which is alarmingly soon! If all goes well we'll be there in early April!!

I'm so exciteddddd!

Happy Sunday!

My newest neice, Katie Scarlett, wearing her first tutu!

Bananas...

- I have had to go to the dang Army hospital once a week for the past three or so weeks. And next week too. Then I get a week off, and I'll be back. And the worst part, most of them aren't fun baby appointments, but way less fun EFMP screening and follow up for the move. Bananas. (P.s. I totally just left an appointment there and am still fuming that it took 30 minutes to find a parking spot, like it does every.single.time. I'm not proud to say that I may have cut off a sweet old lady for it -- but only kind of!)

- OCONUS PCS is absolutely for the birds. I won't go into detail, but I'm really really thankful that we're only doing this once. And then I go anywhere in Killeen and think that anything is worth it to be out of this godforsaken place, really.

-Vienna really gets on my nerves. Jake, she is soooo vapid, desperate, and immature!! How do you not see it? Ugh.

- My husband turned 27 last week!! He's feeling old a little bit, but he has years before 30, no worries! (and his 27 makes my 24 feel young and spry!)

- We have a Battalion Ball to go to tonight! I'm about 40% excited, 60% feeling bloated/pregnant and not excited to be all dolled up. But, if we don't go I'll be really bummed, and this is likely the last time we'll see many friends and acquaintances that we've made here...

- I'm struggling to get any school work done, and I worry that I'll run out of time. It is soooo not useful that the semester ends juuuust as the deadline for our PCS arrives. Argh. March will be too busy for me!!

- I gave up soda AND chocolate, not just for lent, but for the remainder of this pregnancy. Sweet Baby does not need all those empty calories!! Wish me luck... it's certainly going to be a long six months!

Sorry for bullets, I'm just crazyyyy lately! Hopefully the next post will have pictures!!!

Our baby has a heartbeat!! Yesterday was seriously the best day, ever. Brian isn't doing much at work, so he was able to get off and come to the appointment with me. After waiting way too long, we finally got in to see my doctor, who was so sweet. It took her a bit to get a steady read on the heartbeat, because our little one was bouncing around so much! It was about 170bpm, but apparently that is normal for early pregnancy.

Hearing the heartbeat was such a relief! I mean, I know rationally that I'm pregnant, but it kinda has been feeling like I'm just fat and on a weird diet... I've been avoiding buying any baby things or even maternity clothes because it felt like it was all in my head! That will all change quickly though! Brian has another 4 day weekend (second this month!) and we're going to be crib shopping, though I'm not sure we'll really buy one until we get to Alaska.

Do you have any exciting Valentine plans for this weekend? The 14th is actually my husband's birthday, so we're going to lay low, open presents and watch man movies. We might make a trip up to the JFK museum in Dallas, who knows... Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend!