Ava is a little over 7 months old. Where has the time gone??
It's been wonderful staying home with her. She and I are pals :) However, back to reality...ish. Marc's next deployment is looming and I am applying to a few different jobs. I will not do more than part time (she's still #1), but I have a desire to continue the work I love! We've lined up a sitter who is anxiously awaiting my schedule once I have a job or two, and we think Ava will transition just fine (or so we hope!).
February to July have flown by, but during those months, we...
traveled to NY to meet cousin Isabella...
Traveled to Tx...
Ava learned to eat from a spoon (messy!)...
we traveled to see our next niece, Khloe, a few days after she was born...
celebrated Ava's first Easter...
celebrated my first Mother's day (with her on the outside..hehe)...
We found out on July 2 that the baby is a girl! The technician checked many times just to make sure and was very confident that it's a girl :)
This is a load-off honestly, because Marc and I couldn't agree on a boy's name...like numerous arguments on the topic. But a girl's name....that was easy! We figured out the girl's name back before he left. So, what's the name?
Ava Dori
I'm in love with this name....just like I will be in love with this girl :) Ava was a quick agreement for us. Our last name happens to be a 4 syllable name, so we agreed the first name should balance it out. The middle name, Dori, is a combination of our mothers' names...Dawn and Lori. The week before we found out, I told my dad that I hoped the baby was a girl, simply because the name was so perfect! God granted my desire.
People have been asking me how the baby is doing. I tell them "The baby's fine! I'm the one having trouble!" I've been sick for at least two weeks straight. Started as allergies, became a cold, sore throat took over, allergies to a cat got bad, and now...sinus infection. I gave in and called the doctor today. They had an appointment for 40 minutes after I was talking to them. It was so nice! The doctor walked in, asked a couple questions about how I was feeling and said "Yep, it's a sinus infection"...duh. However, this is an OB, so he let me hear the heartbeat, just to check on the baby quickly. It went "Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh" when he was able to find a heartbeat. The sucker was moving all over the place. As soon as he would find the heartbeat, it would disappear. Over and over and over. :) I told him that it wasn't news to me as I can already feel it moving. A LOT! It's not necessarily distinguishable as to what it is (kick vs roll, etc), but it's definitely not lying still. And that makes me happy :)
We have made it to the 2nd Trimester! Not that I had any worries during the 1st Trimester, but it's always there, in the back of your mind. It's nice to know that the chances of miscarriage now is very small. Here's the 13 week picture for your viewing pleasure!
I kinda look pregnant now, huh? Well, only if I hold my belly like I'm doing. Otherwise, my clothes clearly cover the bump. Mother's Day was wonderful...thanks to Marc. All the way from the other side of the world, he made sure flowers were delivered with the sweetest card ever. They're beautiful, huh?
Marc is still flying, days and nights, alternately. He's also had M-9 qualification (that's a gun...i had to ask :-P), and has been studying and taking tests to gain knowledge of the plane. He's been busy. Tomorrow is the first check ride in this plane, but I know he'll do fine...he always does! Tuesday begins a new kind of training, but still with the same plane.
School has begun. Friday was the first day back for the kids and was hectic, as expected. It's good to see them though, and it's refreshing getting back to doing what I love. Therapy doesn't begin until Monday after next, so I still have some time to gather my thoughts and materials before I begin collecting data and helping the kids with communication at school.
A new challenge Marc and I have had to face lately is our alternating schedules. I leave the house at 7am, while he sleeps in so that he can stay awake during his night flight. Then he leaves for work around 2pm and I get home at 5pm. He flies while i'm getting ready for bed, and arrives home at 2am. Then it starts over. We went three days this week without seeing each other except when he was crawling into bed or I was getting up. Let me tell you how much fun this routine is...it's not. Fortunately, lunch time is free for both of us. I have the option to work while I eat, but would rather spend time with my phantom husband. :)
We went to Lubbock this weekend to pick up a few "your trash/my treasure" items. I am so excited!! We picked up a few end tables with nicks and bumps, but perfect! We also got a wingback chair...YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been nagging Marc about one for forever. And lastly, we picked up a beautiful (huge) coffee table that's painted the worst cream/yellow and is filthy, but I can remedy those problems! Pictures will come as soon as I make them pretty :)
We will soon be moving into our new home (if all goes well through closing in Sept.), and the Master Bath only has one sink. We currently have two sinks, so I've been looking at ways to get away from the sink as soon as possible after I'm done. I thought it might help if i had a vanity, but I don't want to fork out the cash for a piece of furniture. The internet is a great place to find alternatives such as this DIY idea! So, in my hunt for a vanity, I went to the local antique place, the same place I found the lamps in a recent post. I found two of these end tables...
Ugly!! It was wood grain on top with white paint on the rest of the end tables. There was some sort of paint over the white, that looked like it was meant to make the tables look antique. However, there were drip marks and areas that the cover didn't get to. It just looked like a quick job.
I couldn't decide what color to paint the tables...white...black...wait and paint it to match the decor. I decided on black. I love black furniture. There are many blogs that I follow that love painting furniture white, sometimes with distressing. While that is gorgeous as well, I love the glamour look of black. So, I began with a tinted primer to cover the white... (That's a new hair color you see there! More pics of the new hair to come)
Once the primer layer dried, I began painting the high-gloss black onto the tables. It took two coats to cover the primer. Marc even helped...reluctantly. Ignore the piles and piles of junk in our garage. We're looking forward to the new and BIGGER house :)
My mother-in-law is visiting (thank you for taking these pictures!) and went with me to pick out the hardware.
Our wedding anniversary countdown failed in a major way. There are numerous reasons that we love each other, and they are too many to count.
June was a happy month.
1st-10th - I spent some time with family in Houston, and saw my sister and bro-in-law (who I'd not seen since their wedding over 2 years ago)
17th - We were reunited on the 17th in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, where Marc had been for 6 weeks and where I planned on vacationing for the remaining 2 that he had left. He was in a resort hotel with a pool overlooking the ocean and the beach just below. There were also restaurants and shops on the boardwalk of the hotel. The day I arrived happened to be the first of 6 days Marc had off, so we enjoyed the time together before he had to return to classes. It was a great vacation!
27th - we began the drive back to Portales from Florida. What should have been a 9 hour drive became 12 hours, but we made it to Houston.
28th - Our 1st Anniversary!!! Nothing romantic happened that day because there were other plans, but it was special nonetheless.
30th - We finally arrived in Portales...whew...4 day trek from Florida to New Mexico.
I would be perfectly happy if that trip never took place again, but Florida is where the other squadron of planes that Marc flies happens to be stationed. Therefore, in about 5 years, there is some likelihood that we will be moving there. (I'm not complaining at all!!!) Once we arrived, we went to pick up Pip. It was great to see Marc reunited with Pippin, as it had been 2 months! Pippin was ecstatic :)
Now that we're back, we began looking at houses to buy. Our favorite one was already claimed (although the buyers were taking back-up contracts). We put in an offer for it and the seller decided to go with the original buyer. We were bummed, but this house was the oldest of all that we looked at and had been on the market for almost a year. Seeing as we are going to have to sell in about 5 years, we were looking to find a place that might sell quickly...and this didn't seem to be the one. We subsequently put in an offer on our second choice...a newly constructed home (it's not quite done yet) that is 3 bed/2 bath/2 car garage. It's got a wonderfully big livingroom with granite in the kitchen and a bay window at the sink overlooking the backyard. It's great and we believe this one is probably the better choice in the end for resale. We have put in an offer and received word that the seller likes the offer. He has been out of town this weekend, so we will probably hear back from him tomorrow about signatures or counter-offers. Pictures will be posted of this house if/when it has a signed contract for purchase. We are excited!! We're ready to stop throwing away money on rent and put down some roots (for the next 5 years).
We hope everyone that reads this is doing well and we miss you all!
We had our wonderful spring break in New York. That is always fun. There is so much to do and we're never bored. We met our niece - who is adorable, and spent time with Marc's family. We saw Jersey Boys on Broadway. I recommend it to anyone travelling there.
We returned and spent some time searching for livingroom furniture/decor. We bought a set of 2 couches, a livingroom rug, kitchen area rug, runner for the entry way, and put up all of the decorations. The house now looks like a home.
But, back to life as we know it... Marc left around noon today for Florida. He received orders for A-C130 training in Florida beginning on May 4th. So he's got 4 days to get there and has to check in on Friday with classes beginning Monday. He will be attending classes and simulators while he's there, and come home to finish the flying portion of training. By that time, the A-C130 Squadron will have moved here from Florida and there will be planes for him to fly. So...he's in the car right now, headed East.
My job is going great. Unfortunately it keeps me from going with him, but it keeps me busy for part of the time he's gone. School is winding down, which means Special Education is trying to finalize everything in preparation for next school year. I have numerous Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings to attend, workshops to attend, therapy to provide, and evaluations to conduct. It all ends on May 27, my last day of the school year. Good news...my boss asked me into her office and asked me to come back next year. Because I'm on a yearly contracted basis, there's no guarantee, although I would be needed again next year, so it's not likely they wouldn't hire me again anyway. It's just nice to know for sure.
The last two months with Marc here have been blissful. It's wonderful to have someone to eat dinner with, someone to take care of errands while I'm at work, someone to wake up to in the morning. I'm looking forward to the end of June when we are reunited (and have our 1st wedding anniversary!).
Hopefully, now that I don't have Marc to distract me, I will post more often ;)
Firstly, Marc has arrived, and he made a grand entrance. It was February 24th, I was expecting Marc in the late afternoon on the 25th, but knew he was driving all day on the 24th, to stay in OKC that night. I called him on my way home from work while he was driving also. We talked about my day and his drive. He mentioned that he had only a few more hours till he reached OKC for the night. He would be staying with a friend that lives there. I ate dinner and went to bed as normal. We always talked before we went to bed, so i called. He said he was with his friend, they were on the way home from the video store and he only had a few minutes to talk. I told him to tell his friend hi for me, and he did. We said our goodbyes and I turned out the light. Minutes later, I heard a knock at the door and the ringing of the doorbell. Being that I was in no shape to answer the door, and partially asleep, I ignored it, wondering to myself who in their right mind would go ringing someone's doorbell at 9:30pm. It rang again... Seriously, go away! Then my phone rang, it was Marc, and a lightbulb came on in my head. IT WAS HIM!! I ran to the door, and flung myself around his neck :) It was the best surprise ever. He had driven all day for 11 hours, faked talking to his friend, and given me the best gift.
Secondly, we became an aunt and uncle for the first time on March 6th to Isabella Rose, daughter of PJ and Jen. We first reported it here. She was over 8 lbs and beautiful, from what we've seen in the pictures. We are looking forward to meeting her very soon.
Thirdly, we are headed to New York again not this week, but next, March 21-29 during Clovis Schools' spring break. Last time we went, we had our second reception for the wedding. This time, we plan to enjoy family time.
Fourthly, Marc joined a temporary squadron when he arrived here in New Mexico. He will not be part of this squadron for long, since he will soon be sent to training in Florida and will join another squadron at that time. However, he has met a few people who will be with him in his permanent squadron after training. So far, they've really taken him under their wing and made him feel welcome. They even called me, asking me to join their wives club.
Lastly, Pippin is doing great. He's still shredding everything, but lately, if we pick up the shreds and show them to him, he heads straight for his crate for timeout. He loves the backyard here at our new place. The people who own the property recently put a gate up in the opening in the fence. Pip has a bell hanging from the back door and has learned to ring it when he needs to go out. He hasn't had an accident since he learned this trick. And now, he can ring the bell, go out, do his thing, and come back in, with just a little help with the door. We are really impressed and proud. He's getting groomed this weekend and is always so cute when he gets back from there. We'll post pictures of him, since he's a little grown up from the picture posted to the right :) He just recently turned 9 months on March 8th.
