Is This Normal?

I'm obsessed with TLC's A Baby Story. I didn't really care about the show when it first came out, my interest grew as my baby cravings grew, and now that I'm pregnant, I don't miss an episode. And without fail, I ALWAYS cry when the baby's born....sometimes, if it's a particularly dramatic episode, I find myself sobbing. I don't know if it's just pregnancy hormones but it's freaking me out because I don't really consider myself a crier. Last week I was watching the Animal Planet Channel and there was this Mama elephant whose baby died and she had to leave the baby behind because she still had another baby who she had to lead to water. You would've thought that Mama elephant was my best friend the way I was going on--I was that emotional about it. This pregnancy has turned me into a cry baby... is this normal?? I can't find anything in my baby books on this subject.

On another topic, my nausea and bouts of sickness are still here, although dramatically less than before. I'll go for days with little to no symptoms and then out of nowhere, I'll have a regression where it's just like in the early days of being sick 10-15 times a day. On those days, I'm so frustrated and annoyed because my good days had fooled me into thinking that my sick days were over. But at least I have a tiny baby bump now so seeing it reminds me that all this will one day pass and I'll have a cute little baby at the end of the experience. The thought helps me get through the day. That and my wonderfully supportive husband who is patient with me when I'm grouchy and spoils me by indulging all my weird whims and taking care of everything so I have yet to do the dishes, laundry, vacuum, dust, or clean bathrooms since we found out I was pregnant. Am I a lucky girl or what?

Pomp & Circumstance

Most people reading this blog probably haven't seen the uniforms above since our wedding...in fact, the dry cleaning tag on my set was from right after the wedding ;o) This past Friday was the Fleet & Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka, Japan (where I work) Change of Command. Every two to three years, every Navy Command (ships and shore installations) get's a new Commanding Officer. Shown above are LT Rich Jones (Customer Service Officer), CDR Eric Bach (Operations Officer), CAPT Arnold (new CO), CAPT Benson (old CO), CDR Jeff Rathbun (Executive Officer) and yours truly.


And here are some of the wives...Laura, Gemma, Tammy, Rhonda and my beautiful wife.


The Happy Couple!

Baby Bump Update and Unfulfilled Cravings

First, here's another glimpse of the bump. It's still pretty small, and this picture was taken after dinner so most of the 'bump' is probably just the roast chicken and corn that I ate. I can't believe how quickly it's going by though....it's already been a month and a half since we found out we're expecting.

I'm now 13 weeks along and since the middle of week 12, I've noticed a decrease in my nausea and bouts of sickness. I'm being cautiously optimistic that things have taken a turn for the better in that department. It's been so nice to be able to eat for a change. And with the renewed appetite come some pretty serious cravings. This weekend, it was Egg McMuffins and hash browns for breakfast. Unfortunately, despite the valiant effort of my husband to fulfill those cravings, it was not meant to be. Saturday, he found out that the McDonald's in our town went out of business and by the time he drove to the one on base, they were no longer serving breakfast. Then this morning, we left the house extra early in order to get a McMuffin before church, but we were 10 minutes too late! I felt like crying, but had to stop myself because I didn't want to admit that I was crying over an Egg McMuffin.

I made up for my dissatisfaction during our grocery run at the commissary later that afternoon. I filled the cart with anything that struck my fancy. This included pizza rolls, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Milano cookies, frozen Jimmy Dean sausage biscuits, Eggo blueberry waffles, chocolate pudding, and MUG root beer. Don't worry, there was some fresh fruit in there too, but man! It's nice to be able to eat again. I'll try to make healthier food choices during my next grocery trip.

Now Hear This...

This morning we had a 'do-over' of our appointment from a couple weeks ago. We weren't quite comfortable with our first doctor so we switched to a nurse midwife. The policy here is that if you're not a high risk pregnancy, you don't get the one and only OB doctor they have at the hospital. You get a family practitioner. But after our experience with the FP, we decided to try and fight for another option. So we ended up with our nurse midwife, who is amazing! I feel much more comfortable with her and she was able to explain things to me, a nervous first time pregnant woman, in a way that didn't frighten me half to death.

So after giving us some peace of mind on all my pregnancy concerns, she let us listen to the baby's heartbeat. In the video, I look completely frightened, but I wasn't. I was only afraid of moving the wrong way and missing out on the baby's heartbeat. Mike and I were pretty excited to hear that sound.

Weekend Variety...

Well, the family left last weekend, so this weekend we had nothing planned, so we played it by ear...here we visited the Daikuko Futo late Saturday nite. It's a rest stop where all the local 'Fast & Furious' Japanese car guys hang out.



The weather was beautiful this weekend, so on Sunday after church, we went to the beach - Cicely took this shot becaus she appreciated the irony of the book I was reading...









And finally, I found this little guy in the parking garage...

Our 2nd Anniversary Present!

We had a scheduled doctor's appointment on our anniversary and we were able to see the baby for the first time. The quality of the ultrasound printout isn't the greatest....our baby looks like a primoridial fish in the picture, but it was still exciting to see that there actually IS something in there and I'm not suffering through all this morning sickness for nothing. And we found out the baby's heart is beating at an amazing rate of 166 beats per minute!

For those of you who are having trouble orienting the picture, the line is measuring from the butt to the top of the head, so what looks like the little "fins" are actually the tiny arms and legs.

We couldn't ask for a better anniversary present than to see our little fish.

Old School Japan

Our final trip through Japan was our trip to Nikko - definitely the best mix of ancient shrines and outdoor stuff to see in Japan. Here we are in front of the Toshogu Shrine.


In front of the Sacred Bridge.



Check out that ray of sunshine!

















Who knew this proverb originated here in Nikko, Japan?













Here are Dad and I in a camera duel!











We stayed in a lodge that was also frequented by a lot of European backpackers - not quite a hotel, but better then a hostel - another new experience for Megan!








The 5 of us shared a room - it had two beds downstairs with the bathroom and a loft upstairs with two beds and a couch - no TV though, so we had to improvise...




...when was the last time you played LIFE?









Dad and I playing Cribbage...he was a little rusty, so I had to school him a bit ;o)

I can't remember when was the last time I got to hang out with my family and spend 'quality time' together - in this age of digital cable and X-box's, it's a rarity. Cicely and I will have to keep the board game tradition alive with our kids!






The next day, we took in some nature. Here are Mom and Megan in front of Kiurifuni Falls - I didn't realize it was the first time my sister had seen a waterfall in real life!




Here's Cicely in front of Kegon Falls, with Lake Chuzenji above.












Here we are up close to Kegon Falls.

















Here we are at Edo Wonderland. It's a re-creation of Japan during the Edo Period (1600's). Very similar to Colonial Williamsburg, back in Virginia - the people dress up as they did in the old days, and also re-enact certain events.








A re-enactment of a fight.










The Augustine family with newly adopted Ninjas!














Finally, we went to the Tobu World Square. It's a park with 1/25th scale models of almost every major touristy spot around the world. There are too many to post here on this blog (Dad took over 250 pics alone), so you'll have to come visit us to see them all! Here's Mom in front of the Tokyo Tower.
















This picture goes out to all my buddies over in Iraq and Afghanistan right now - we shall never forget.