Monday, July 28, 2008

Just for Crystal

Ok, so my trip home over Labor Day weekend may be changing, so keep posted. It's getting all confusing and complicated, but changing the flight may turn out for the better. :) Anyway, Crystal has been bugging me to post pictures--specifically of my belly. I'm definitely showing, but not as much as you'd think. I'm just waiting for the day my belly just blows up...which, I read, literally happens overnight. So, here are some pictures of me at 18 weeks. :)


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Ok, so it doesn't look like much, but it sure does look like it from my end!!! Anyway, here are some other pictures I wanted to share. :)

My cutie patootie nephew, Brandon.

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A view of Jerome's sub on the day I was able to watch it do a personnel drop. (My first time seeing the sub in motion!!)

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So that's all for now. Tomorrow is the first day of school and I'm getting quite nervous! I guess it's the normal "I hope I'm ready" nerves...but it feels like the very first day of teaching for me!! I guess in a sense it is since I haven't taught 6th grade (or upper grade, for that matter!) before!! I hope it'll be ok! :)

Friday, July 25, 2008

Last Chance

I just booked my flight home for Labor Day weekend. It'll be my last chance to go home until probably next June, when I'm on summer break and I can take home baby. Hopefully Jerome will be able to come home with me. Anyway, I will be home from Friday, August 29 to Monday, September 1. Hopefully I can have a baby shower sometime during that weekend...but that's not important. I just want to see my friends and family! :)

Jerome is back from his 6 days and it was fun going to the pier and watching the sub pull up. It was my first experience and I had a great time. Great weather, great company, and especially great seeing Jerome after 6 days! He gets to be on top of the sub when they pull up, so I don't have to wait for him to get out of the metal tube to see him. :) It was nice. Too bad no photography was permitted on that part of the base (or any part, for that matter...) so I can't show you anything!!

The keikis come back on Tuesday!!! I'm getting nervous. Open House tonight and I get to meet parents. F-U-N.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Reality

So the time has finally come. Jerome's sub is officially out of shipyards and that only means one thing. Actually, it means a couple of things--but the main thing is that he is now going to be gone more often. Now, I've been used to him not being home....sometimes it's for one day, other times it's two days. I'm a fairly independent woman and I can usually keep myself busy. But now the time apart is one week, later on will be a few weeks. Soon enough, it will be months. I really thought I would be able to handle it--afterall, we're used to being apart. (Like when Jerome lived in South Carolina and I was in LA for those 3 years.) But it's different now. There's ZERO communication. He can't call every night and I can't tell him about my day. I can't expect a call from him at a specific time. I just have to hope that he'll call some time during the day. He was gone for 2 days this past week, and when I picked him up, I swear I had diarrhea of the mouth! I had to tell him everything that had happened since he was gone. He was totally overwhelmed.

But there is a bright side! There will no longer be 12 hour work days--Jerome says if anything, their hours will probably be 4-6 hours/day. So when he's here, he'll be HERE. When the sub is here, life will be "normal"....whatever that is. There's always a silver lining, right?

So life here is becoming more hectic. I'll be starting up work again--teachers go back on the 24th, students back on the 29th. I've been in my classroom for a few hours a day, a few days a week. It's finally getting to the point where I'm comfortable enough to say, "this is my classroom." I've worked so hard to get it to where it is now! It's a complete 180 from how I inherited the classroom...it was disgusting...and now it's much better. Jerome helped me move some furniture and now it's starting to make more sense...much better flow....much better learning environment. :) Let's hope the kiddies think so!

We are also planning on moving within the next month. We want to move out of our house now b/c I'm very wary of the carpet. It's what I term "dorm carpet" because whatever you spill on it, it disappears. Who knows what's on the carpet! Nothing I'd want my baby to crawl/roll/play on, that's for sure. That's the main reason why we want to move. We do qualify to move to another military housing community and as a last resort, we definitely will do that. It's a newer housing community and the houses do not have carpet, which can be a pain, but at least it won't have nasty carpet. Our optimal choice would be to move off base, into a house/townhouse that has 3 bedrooms. We really want 3 bedrooms so that there can be a baby room and a seperate guest room/office. We looked at a community where Jerome's buddy lives and I really liked it--so we're looking in that area. It's actually the halfway point between Jerome and my work, so it's perfect. Now if only we can find a place.... (btw, we want to move within the next month b/c after this sea trial, Jerome will be in port for about month, so he and his buddies can move us!)

Pregnancy is going well. I went to see my new doctor and it was a good visit. We heard the heartbeat and everything seems to be going well. They took more blood (quad screening test) and I had to pee in a cup again--same 'ol, same 'ol. I have an 3D ultrasound on August 1, where we find out the sex of the baby. I'm getting so anxious to find out! Too bad we can figure out names...

Alright, off to bed I go. I really need to start adjusting my sleeping schedule, because this sleeping at midnight and waking up at 8 or 9am is not going to be good for me once school starts! I've been making my own lesson plan/grade book (because I'm too cheap to buy one...but don't ask me how long it took me to make this one!) and now I have to make other stuff for my classroom. *sigh* It's good to be busy, right?

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Model (pregnant) Student

My pregnancy has been pretty textbook. Everything that's supposed to happen week to week (according to the books and the websites I subscribe to...which all say the same thing) basically happens to me. Maybe it's all psychological and I'm willing it all to happen?? Or maybe it's all been happening and I just notice it once I read that it's "supposed" to happen? Some examples:

- Nausea & fatigue is supposed to subside by your 11th week. This is because your body should be adjusted to the wacky hormones running through your body. My nausea (for the most part...like 90% of the time) went away at 10.5 weeks and fatigue, although I'm still tired at times, has gone away significantly. I'm feeling MUCH better than in weeks 5-10.5.

- Because of the uterus expanding so rapidly at the end of the first trimester & second trimester, you start to pee like no other, every half hour. This has been me for the past month...basically when I started my 2nd trimester, I've been needing to pee. This is quite possibly the most annoying part so far. (I'm sure mentioned this plenty of times! :0)

- At your fourteeth week, you may experience stuffy nose & headaches. Guess what I've been dealing with for the past 2 weeks?? You got it! Blowing my nose like no other, problems breathing through my nose at night, and waking up with wicked headaches. Headaches can get so bad that I have to resort to Tylenol (which is allowed, btw) otherwise I just get nauseaus and have to throw up. It's almost like a migraine. yuck.

- Also at fourteen weeks, your hair and skin should start to change. Some experience hair falling out, some experience thicker hair--I've notice that my hair is a lot less oily (not like the so-oily-have-to-wash-it-everyday-hair in my first trimester) and is thicker. Also, my skin is drier and if I don't apply my lotion every night and morning, I get all itchy. (btw, Crystal, I rub the Mama Bee on my tummy everynight!)

That's about it so far. The good news is that I'm in my 16th week and the uterus is *supposed* to be adjusting and so my frequent need to pee should get back to normal soon. *whew!* I have a Dr. appointment next Wednesday, my 17th week, with my new doctor. Jerome is trying really hard to be there, but we're not sure he'll be able to. :( We're still debating on getting the amnio--I don't want to because we already know that if we find that there is something wrong with the baby, (knock on wood) we'd still keep it, so what's the point? Jerome argues that if we do find something wrong with the baby, then we'd be more prepared for whatever is to come. That makes a lot of sense to me too. I'm leaning towards "no" because I don't want a big needle in my tummy. If Jerome isn't at the appointment, I'm DEFINITELY not doing it. I guess we will see. We also *should* be able to find out the sex of the baby--but since I'm going to a new doctor, I don't know what to expect.

I should start going to sleep now. I have to drive way the heck downtown for a training and I hate driving in that part of town. Just a few more weeks and I'm back to work...it went by so quickly!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Johnny Depp

For some reason, I've been watching movies starring Johnny Depp. They've been on TV, so it seems that it's Johnny Depp season or whatever. Just the other day, "Benny and Joon" was on TV and I had to watch that again. Then I watched, "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" on TV a few nights ago. Last night, "Sweeney Todd" came on Netflix and Jerome and I watched that movie together. Ok, I've decided that I really enjoy Johnny Depp as an actor. He's freakin' amazing! He plays such great roles and he's so convincing.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about Sweeney Todd. Now, that movie is STRANGE. I don't want to give much away if you haven't seen it, but let me preface it by saying it's a musical (so Johnny sings!) and it's really dark. Anyway, apart from the one scene where I almost threw up (seriously, I almost did!) the movie was quite entertaining and sealed my newfound admiration for Mr. Depp. He is, afterall, Capt. Jack Sparrow!

We finally got a Wii! After months and months of trying to find one on the island, (it's almost impossible) we stumbled upon a shipment at Walmart yesterday while trying to buy some cleaning products. It was meant to be! Now, if only the games we want weren't sold out as well.

No new pregnancy news here. Today marks my 15th week. wee!