April 24, 2014 by Stephanie

Bumpdate Week 18

I pulled back the dress in the picture on the right again to show you the full bump.

How far along: 18 weeks..holy moly

Sex of Baby W: We will be confirming the sex today at our appointment. It will be fun to actually see everything because the last time I had to close my eyes while she looked and wrote it on a note so I can take it home to open it with Tom.

Weight gain: Still at a 7lb total loss. The bump is growing (which is a weird feeling), so I am sure here soon the scale will jump some. Some days my bump disappears, and then other days it is very much present. Anybody else have this experience?

Size of Baby W: The size of a bell pepper (Last week was a turnip, so Tom and I were calling him Turnip all week.)

Maternity clothes: I have bought a few tops that I can easily wear not pregnant. I am all about the long term investment here people. I also purchased the Be Band from Target, which is amazing. There is nothing like knowing that your pants are undone all day, but no one else can tell. Super awesome and freeing. Also, maternity yoga pants are the best thing ever.

Baby items: We have not been successful with finding a dresser. We have a backup plan for Tom to construct something if we are still unfruitful come the middle of the summer. We have made a giant list of things that will go on a registry when the time comes. Any recommendations on what store to register at or if we should register at more than one place? We are still doing well with not buying anything else yet, I am sure that will change once I allow myself to go into baby sections to actually create the registry. Folks, little boy things are super darn cute, and it is hard not to buy every pair of overalls and bow ties!

Stretch marks: Nope. I have started a strict regimen of lotion and tummy butter morning and night.

Belly button in or out: Still in.

Sleep: I have been sleeping pretty well, but I still have some wicked dreams. (Last night I had was a superhero trying to defeat an evil man who was killing off my family and students. I could freeze things and shoot freeze balls out of my hands…) I have started having to get up when Tom leaves for PT (at 5:30am) to go to the bathroom, and there are usually a couple nights of the week that I wake up several other times to go pee.

Best moment the past few week: Hanging out with our friends in Indiana

Worst moment the past few weeks: Finding out I didn’t get the job at Austin Peay

Miss anything: This last weekend I really wanted wine, but little guy doesn’t need to be a party animal more than he already is in there.

Cravings: Not really anything special that I can remember. I am still in the phase of if I see it or hear it, I want it. I am doing good sticking to a pretty healthy diet though.

Movement: I think I felt something last week, but I am not sure…It felt more like a punch in the gut instead of a flutter which is what people told me I am supposed to feel.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: For the most part, I am feeling pretty good. I still have moments of nausea. I also learned that I cannot sit in the backseat of a car anymore because I get motion sickness. Super fun. I do take a lot of naps too. I have been walking the dogs a lot and yoga, so I think that is helping. I did try actually running the other day, and it felt super weird. I might have been a little paranoid that he was going to fly out with all the jiggling that was going on, so I probably will just stick to walking.

Looking forward to: Our checkup appointment today. It will be the first time Tom has seen the baby since Week 9. He got to hear the heartbeat a few weeks ago, but did not see him. I can’t wait to see his reaction on how much little man has grown.

Week 18

April 23, 2014 by Stephanie

A Weekend Refresher

This last weekend, Tom and I finally made it up to Indiana to see some close friends of ours. The four of us met in Iowa while Kate and I were working at Iowa State. Tom and Jordan started “The Husband Club.” So naturally the four of us became fast couple friends.

If you have hung around the blog at all, you know that our transition into the Army life has not been all roses and rainbows. Despite the struggles, we are making the best of it and are not quitters. We still put all that we are into the things we have here. There are days, however, when you lose hope and pieces of yourself.

This weekend gave us both a boost that we desperately needed. It reminded us of things and reignited our hope for our future.

(Nothing like a road trip in the middle of no-where to talk about your dream house, especially when someone insists that we take back roads the whole way there. We did successfully make it there by only using an atlas, so there is something we have going for us.)

Being able to spend time with Kate and Jordan was just the refresher that we needed. We were able to relax and chat about nonsense. It was great to be in a college town again, which is something we didn’t realize we missed so much. There is just something in the air in college towns: always living the dream and pursuing even bigger dreams. It is really energizing (or we are both just huge college nerds…)

They were the greatest hosts who showed us around the area and provided us with great meals and fantastic company. And I am not sure our dogs wanted to leave their cute window filled home.

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We hopped up to Indianapolis for a night to see a minor league baseball game. Who doesn’t love baseball and hotdogs?

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We had a wonderful Easter brunch including a grown up Easter egg hunt.

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I will say that this brunch will always make me chuckle because Tom and I go from Army talk on a normal basis to this brunch where it was mostly doctoral students talking about their trips and plans of study. Two different worlds…

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Sometimes you just need little reminders that things will be OK. (God is good like that.)

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And sometimes you just need randomness to take stress away and reconnect with those around you.

This was the perfect change of pace for us.

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Tom did not win the egg hunt despite his best efforts.

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Kate got the most, but she didn’t manage to find any eggs with stuff in it.

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We had such a great weekend. And many thanks to our friends for letting us crash in their abode for a few days. Hopefully, we will not wait as long until the next time we reunite.

April 21, 2014 by Stephanie

Armucation: A View of Tom’s Job

I have talked a lot about Tom being out at ranges and training missions for days at a time.

They released a couple of videos of the training which give you a glimpse at things that they do. They do a better job describing/showing things than I do, so I will let them take over today.

This particular range training was a huge deal because it was the first time in a decade they have done something to this scale. It was a multi-day brigade sized air assault operation and included soldiers from 3rd BCT, 101st ABN DIV (Tom’s unit) and 101st CAB (Combat Aviation Brigade/Helicopter folks). The mission moved over 1,000 soldiers and sling-loaded over 30 pieces of equipment over the range area.

That video is a little cheesy, but this link has a really good one where several officers explain what is going on.

Here is a newspaper article that was done on it as well.

It was a ridiculously big deal for them to do well. It was publicized on everything. I even heard a report on it every day on my favorite radio show for that week.

They did a few smaller Eagle flights before this large-scale one as an entire brigade. All that Tom had to say was that he was glad that they were done. We are hoping that the training cycle dies down a little bit since they were going out each week for a couple of months there.

Tom was also awarded the Army Commendation Medal during this mission. Apparently, this is a huge deal for him to receive this medal during peace time as most are received while down range in actual battle. They are given for extraordinary achievement, and it was really great for Tom to be recognized for all that he has done in his new position. You can read a little more here about the medal. Proud wife moment!

April 18, 2014 by Stephanie

Friday Filter: Book “Personal Connections in the Digital Age”

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I read this book for my professional development goal. I was able to connect with a colleague that I met through the blog world, which was quite fitting for our first book.

Ellen and I would read a chapter a week and then emailed each other back and forth about our thoughts, observations, and reflections on that particular chapter.

Nothing about this book was earth shattering, but it did provide some good talking points for us to have some really great discussions.

The chapters were fairly short and very well organized (like an English teacher’s dream).

It was not overly textbookish, and had some great practical examples. She did include data and a lot of history in the book, but again, not in a way that goes over your head or puts you to sleep.

What I enjoyed about the book was looking back at how media and technology has evolved. A lot of advancement happened when Ellen and I were growing up. It gave us some great talking points about our childhood, college, and now our professional lives and how we have interacted with technology over time.

We also had some great discussions about what this means for our students. We have observed a lot of behaviors that stem from the use of technology and the availability of information. That was great to apply it to our work along with our personal tastes.

Throughout the book, the author talked about personal connections and how technology can help and hinder the meaningfulness of those relationships.

We were able to talk about the anonymity that it can provide for criticism on one hand. While on the other, it can provide closeness to long distance relationships. We explored the idea of communities and individuals needing to create an online identity and what that means as far as connections, expectations, and consequences. We discussed such a wide range of outcomes over the couple months of reading, so it is hard to discuss it all here.

All in all, it was a good little book that gave Ellen and I some great things to reflect on. We were able to see how technology has morphed over time and how our usage has impacted us.

It was very interesting for us to talk about this technology driven book through email and having met through blogging and not ever in real life, which we both commented on every once in awhile. We would send each other little technology nuggets from videos to blogs from time to time too that would relate to whatever topic of the time.

Ellen and I are continuing our little book adventure again with a book on decision making. It was really great connecting with her and having the accountability to read a professional development book. I think we had some really great discussions about our profession, but I would also say we got to know each other really well too, even if it was quite random.

Have you read any great professional development books lately?

April 17, 2014 by Stephanie

My Sweet Girl Who Can Act

This weekend, our little lady Grace hurt herself playing in the back yard. We are not sure what happened. One second we were grilling burgers listening to the dogs run around, and then the next second Grace comes limping over like her world just ended.

We think that while she was running around with Crosby, she fell in one of the holes (that she dug) and tweaked something. She didn’t wince when we tried touching her leg, and it obviously doesn’t look broken. She also would stand on it; she just hobbled when she walked.

Since it happened Saturday night, we decided to hold off until Monday to call the vet and see how she got through the rest of the weekend.

Tom carried her practically around the whole apartment Saturday night and all day Sunday. We carefully put her in bed with us and wrapped her all snuggly in blankets and warded off a concerned Crosby so she could rest easily.

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Monday I called the vet to find out you could only schedule appointments 2 weeks out, even for emergencies. What!?!?

How do you all define emergency? That’s another topic for another day.

We ended up deciding to watch her for another couple days and then decide to go to a different vet if it gets worse. Since she wasn’t wincing when we touched it, we honestly weren’t sure what more the vet could do besides charge us money.

As I was panicking on how we would help our baby girl, I started noticing something peculiar about her.

This girl has game.

As I let her out to go wobble to a potty spot, she starts playing with Crosby with no inhibitions.

She is racing around again like the Grace we all know and love.

I watched for a few minutes, then scolded the two of them for playing so rough while Gracie was hurt and ushered them back inside.

And low and behold, the limp was back on.

She would look at Tom and I with crying eyes anytime we went up the stairs. Obviously saying, “Oh dear parents, I am dying. Please carry me.”

Then as soon as her or Crosby got an itch to play, the limp was off. She was back to being an instigator.

Then back to poor me, my leg needs to be amputated.

Yesterday when I came home, I was greeted with “boundy turn into a U shape” Grace like nothing ever happened. Then 5 minutes later…”Mom, hold me. The pain is too much.”

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We have tried to keep her from being too active, but her little doggy instincts obviously want to be normal again. I keep giving her lectures about not taking too much on and the importance of rest. Then I pull her close for a hug and a kiss because I just wanted my baby girl to feel better.

At least that is until last night when I caught her in her lie, and she knew it.

Tom and I were both sitting on the couch, and I saw Grace put all her weight on her “bad” leg to scratch herself with the other. I looked at her squarely in the eyes and said, “Oh so your leg hurts does it?”

Y’all, you should have seen the look she gave me.

She just froze mid scratch, and she knew she had been compromised.

I caught our dog lying to us!

Tom and I were laughing so hard because our dog dooped us.

To be honest, we are still watching her leg and not walking her like normal to keep undo stress away from the leg/shoulder she seems to be favoring. We aren’t horrible parents, and we really do want her to feel better. But seriously, I think she has been faking the “severity” of her injury to get more attention.

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