Welcome Home, GW!!

Many of you know that while Cicely and I lived in Virginia Beach, I was stationed on the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) - what you may not know, is that the GW holds a special place in our hearts because when the ship was first commissioned (ie handed over to the Navy from the shipbuilder), on July 4th, 1992, Cicely and I were both at the ceremony but just didn't know each other then - We were only 14 and 12 years old! Her Dad was a Senior Chief onboard GW at the time, and my Dad was invited to the ceremony, so he took me too. Neat, huh?



Here she is tied to the pier. No longer stationed out of Norfolk, the GW is now permanently homeported here in Yokosuka, as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces - it took a lot of negotiating for the Japanese to allow a Nuclear powered ship here; after leaving Norfolk back in April, she finally made it! Anyone like my 'Top Gun' look???

Sorry About the Gaps

I know we've been pretty bad about updating the blog on a regular basis, but honestly, there hasn't been much going on that seemed blog-worthy. But for the 1 or 2 people who do check our blogs out regularly, here's a quick recap of the uneventful things that have been going on...

Friday night, I was feeling sick so Mike had to go to a Hail and Farewell Party without me. Afterwards, I sent him out to McDonald's to get me a Big Mac. I assumed he understood that I wanted the whole meal. He comes home with JUST the Big Mac, minus the fries, and I burst into tears. Dang these hormones!

Saturday we took a day trip to go to Yokota in order to pick up some plaque that Mike needed to order for work. It took us three and a half hours to get there because of the ever present Japanese traffic. They didn't have the plaque he needed, but we did end up buying baby caps, mittens, and a whole bunch of candy to eat on the way home. We stopped by a pet store where I fell in love with a chocolate lab puppy and Mike wanted to bring home a corgi puppy. If only we could....

Sunday was church followed by a grocery trip. I'm starting to feel so much better that I'm able to cook dinner again! I planned out our week's menu that includes: Balsamic glazed salmon with brown rice pilaf and roasted asparagus, Black bean pork and zucchini with fried rice, Sizzling shrimp with corn relish, and Pepper beef with steamed rice. Mike is very grateful he's not on dinner duty anymore.

Monday through Wednesday were lazy days...I stayed home, cleaned out the guest bedroom closet to make room for all of the quickly accumulating baby stuff, read a 'guilty pleasure' novel, and surfed ebay for any cute baby clothes. Mike is regretting the day he taught me how to work the ebay thing as I'm a little addicted to it right now...

See? I told you nothing particularly blog-worthy, but there you have it in case you were curious. I'll try to make my next blog a little more exciting, but no promises...

Mike's Favorite Baby Outfit

Since finding out we're expecting a girl, I've slowly but steadily been buying girly baby clothes. It was like once I started, I couldn't stop. My mom warns me against buying too much since babies grow so quickly, but it's just too much fun to resist. I'm keeping all the receipts just in case I look back a month or two from now and realize I HAVE gone overboard, but in the meantime, it just brings me so much joy. Mike jokes that her wardrobe will soon be bigger than his and mine combined. He has come to accept/tolerate my shopping mini-sprees, but he just doesn't get as excited about the cute little outfits like I do. He does a valiant job of pretending and saying they're cute, but I know he's just doing it for my sake.

FINALLY, I found a baby outfit for which Mike doesn't have to fake his enthusiasm. It's self explanatory once you look at the picture, but he was genuinely excited about this one. Of course, it was supposed to be a Christmas surprise, but he opened the package before I could get to it and hide it in the closet. Merry Christmas three months early!

Halfway There- 20 Weeks!

We're halfway there and it's starting to dawn on me that a baby requires a lot of STUFF. Before I knew we were having a girl, I loved to admire all the baby things, but I wasn't really keeping track of which items were actually needed. Now that I know she's a girl, it all of a sudden feels so much more real, and I'm starting to feel mildly panicked that I won't be ready in time. I should've started preparing months ago! But the thing is- I'm not sure what I need to be getting. I feel like I need EVERYTHING, but I'm sure that's just the first-time mom in me. How do I weed out what is a true necessity, a nice-to-have, and just great advertising?

I can't believe how quickly the past few months have flown by. My belly is growing and my morning sickness is pretty much a thing of the past. I eat like crazy. Mike still spoils me by indulging my every whim. He even fakes enthusiasm when I show him precious little baby girl dresses. Life is good.

It's a Girl!

We haven't had very much luck with good ultrasound pictures as evidenced by these recent ones, but our Japanese ultrasound technician guy with a very thick accent assured us, "I look many times at baby's crotch area, but I no see any boy parts." He then turned to Mike, bowed, and said, "So sorry."

Mike was hoping for a boy, but I've been telling him not to get his hopes up too high because I had a gut feeling this baby was a girl. And I was right. I think it'll take a little while for him to get used to the idea, but I'm positive he's going to love having a daddy's girl.

Below are a couple more pictures. The first is the baby's head and spine and the second is a profile shot of her entire body. Hopefully you can make it out.




Immediately after the appointment, I was in the baby section picking out my girly things. FINALLY, I was able to buy baby stuff...and girly stuff at that- so much fun! It was hard not to go overboard when I've held out for so long, but here's what I got today:


This whole baby thing felt a lot more real today because we were able to see her moving around and looking like a real baby (no more primordial fish). And we no longer have to refer to her as 'it'. She gets to be a more personal pronoun now!

A Baby Shower

Despite what this picture looks like, this shower wasn't for me. I was hosting it for my friend, Vernessa, who is ready to give birth any day now. We snuck into her house while she and her family were at church and surprised her with food, friends, and presents. A great time was had by all, including the GUYS. Yes, there were guys at this baby shower, and to tell the truth, I like it better that way. I think it's nice when guys are included in the shower.






Here's Vernessa, the baby shower celebrant.












The cute duckie cake and the food!





Vernessa and her husband, Chuck, admiring the baby presents.




Here are the 3 pregnant ladies in birth order: Vernessa- any day now, Lyn- January 5, and me- January 25. It must be something in the water!