Making Moves

We are still waiting for our next assignment but our window of opportunity for travel is twindling and quickly! So, we started planning and researching some trips. Originally I was hoping to get to a cruise (Rome, Sicily, Greece, Crete, Turkey) but the Commander had other plans for that timeframe apparently. Booo on the Commander! But it worked out, here's what we have lined up:

LONDON

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We are headed to beautiful London the first weekend in April (yeah, that's about a a week away, eeek)!! 

We return home for about a day, wash some clothes and we're off again:

ROME

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After a quick stop at home we're off to explore Rome.

I'm excited to explore each of these cities. But, I'm far more overwhelmed by Rome than I am London. So anyone with tips or information I should know about Rome (or either place really) let me know!!

After our excursion to Paris, where we "winged" the sites we've decided we would prefer tours. We enjoyed seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe but we don't know anything about them. We want to learn something about the Vatican and Trevi Fountain. I don't want to just say that I've "seen" them. For London I've already found a great Hop-on Hop-Off Bus tour. I've found one for Rome, but I'm far less confident about it than I am the one I found for London- so if you've taken a tour let me know! How much time do you need at the Vatican and the Coliseum?

Thanks for any tips you have for us Friends!

Reality Check!

You all know how I've been babbling on incessantly over this impending PCS. You remember, how irritated I am that we don't have any information, that I'm pregnant (and the world revolves around my pregnancy), blahblahblah....

I was driving to Ramstein on Saturday (to see 21 Jump Street with the hubs, HILARIOUS, btw) and it occurred to me this whole process really hasn't been as bad as I have been making it out to be. I am right now 17 weeks and 3 days preggo (4 months). The General was here the beginning of February. We were told last week that DEROS in the Company should be changing very soon and we should hopefully have orders by my birthday (which is about a month away). So really, for everyone to have new DEROS and new assignments in about a two month period is not so horrible. Especially when you consider it's the Government we're talking about here.

So here's to hoping we get what we want, and in a timely fashion! I have this feeling that everything is going to be just fine!

Holy Hormones Batman!!

Today I am 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The rage-y (aka b*t%hy) hormones have kicked in- full throttle. The last few days have been rough. There have been a few occassions where having my husband in the same room as me was just too much: "you're bugging me." For no good reason. I'm just irritated. It's not fair and 90% of the time I recognize that this is happening to me. I work hard to give my husband a heads up "I'm really cranky right now" and from that point forward my goal is to speak as little as possible, as I don't want to be a hormonal pain in his backside. Sincerely. It's not funny being the Bickering-McBickerson's!

Today I had my third appointment with the midwife. I did not care for this lady in the least. I felt rushed. I have been having a tough time breathing. After walking or just randomly when I'm sitting on the couch or at the table completing homework. There are times I can literally not fill my lungs filling all the way, but when it does happen, its like heaven! I was explaining this to the midwife and she was like "breathing troubles are physiological." Ok... thanks. That's extremely unhelpful. I told her well, I was asthmatic as an infant (like bad, numerous hospital stays, ect) she was still unimpressed. Well lady, I'm just attempting to give you information you decide what's helpful and what isn't; silly me I thought a history of pulmonary distress is relevant. Then it continued... she was using the doppler to check the babe's heart rate and couldn't find it. This happened last month too... so I start getting concerned. Why does my babe HATE the doppler? She goes for the ultrasound and is completely stingy with it. She wouldn't angle it so I could see (I get this is simply to find the heartbeat but hell if you're doing it you might as well share with Mom, right?!), she found the heartbeat and then was like ok, 155 beats. My husband chimes in: Can we get a picture or.... Midwife: No there's a lot of people.

She sucks. Yes there were a lot of people. I opted for the Centering Group. I figured it would be a good way to meet some other peeps going through the same thing, around the same time. Well, instead it's just a disorganized-overpopulated room of hormones, and my 15 mins with the doc is even more hurried than usual. So far, I'm not a fan of the centering group, just for your future reference.

Has anyone else tried centering? How'd you like it?

At least we saw and heard the babes little heart chugging away! I have already had people tell me it's a Girl, (which is my instinct as well), what do you guys think??!

What a different a year makes

A few days ago I wrote an entire post dedicated to my distain for our current situation, regarding our impending PCS. I was long and drawn out. When I was proof reading I got sick of myself... By the end of it I was like "really, lady?" So, I'm going to opt not to post about that today.

Today I'm thinking about where I was this time last year. My husband had been in Afghanistan for about a week and a half and I had been in an airplane for about 2 and half hours (it's 1220 PM in Germany). I was headed back to the states to surprise my family at my nephews 1st Birthday Party. My husband knew I had a ticket back to the States and that I would be flying on his birthday (yes my man is a lucky baby, born on St. Patty's). I was on the plane worrying that I wouldn't be able to speak to him on his birthday. Luckily it worked out and we were able to chat online for a minute before I crashed after 15-someodd hours of travel.

Today, Kevin and I are enjoying his birthday together. Low Key around the house. We planned to take a nice long walk, as Spring has recently sprung here in Germany. But none of my clothes would fit. I swear I gained about 10 pounds overnight. Grr... Anywhoodle, There's no Afghanistan this year. There's no 10 hour flight. We're together and we are thankful. We are so excited and anxious for the year ahead; our babe! Yeah, I am apprehensive, nervous and anxiously awaiting information about where I'll be delivering my precious bundle of joy the end of this Summer... but for today I'm going to put that aside and enjoy my hubby and spoil him on his birthday!!

Strong Bonds

Have you attended or heard of the Army sponsored Strong Bonds Marriage training sessions? On Friday the Platoon Sergeant called my husband on lunch and asked if we wanted to attend the retreat the following day, here at lovely Edelweiss. We jumped at the chance for many reasons: the free weekend to Edelweiss definitely played a part. I am a strong believer that investing in my marriage will help to ensure it's success in the long run. I don't think that marriage will be easy for any couple, but particularly for us military couples who deal with stretches of separation. All couples, civilian and military have issues and hurdles to overcome. I don't feel that our lifestyle is more difficult, it's just unique; it's different- no better and no worse, just different.

All the same, I sincerely appreciate the lessons and the investment the Army (and therefore the Department of Defense) makes in my marriage. This is a financial commitment as well as an emotional one. This weekend came without fees. We were offered transportation to and from the post, as well as a food allowance and each night's stay was paid for. The only costs that we incurred were leisure activities and any alcohol.

The training offered was based upon The 5 Love Languages. These "languages" should come as no surprise to my fellow mil-spouses. They are very common tools utilized by the Chaplains and other services offered through the military. I have heard of it but I hadn't taken the time to read the book. To make a long story-short, there are 5 different ways in which we all communicate love. Some of us require Words of Affirmation to know how our spouse feels, while others require Physical Touch or Quality Time. It's important that we know which language we speak and learn to understand it, as well as learning which language our partner speaks, so that we can better express our love for them. It's about communicating in a way our spouse will understand.

This weekend has been surprisingly informative and engaging. We've had a great time. I encourage you to contact your Chaplains and/or Chaplains assistant to find out when the next training session will be offered. You cannot stop investing in your marriage. Even if you are on solid footing (as we felt, and this weekend as affirmed we were) you have to "check in" every-so-often.

I highly recommend these retreats.

So much News today!

I don't know where to start. 


I'm 15 weeks pregnant today! This time next month I'll hopefully know the sex of our lil babe. 


Then we have this Marine running his mouth on social networking sites about how he won't obey orders from his Commander-in-Chief. It's baffling that the Marine Corp is allowing him to get away with it. I don't understand. The Marine argues that he's still entitled to an opinion, that "the Constitution trumps all." Well, it's funny to me after 8 years of service to the Corp, this Marine doesn't know how wrong he is. He is, rightfully entitled to any opinion that comes his way about the government, up to and including the President. He is not, however, entitled or permitted to go on social networking sites and make negative statements about his chain of command which of course includes his President. 


To clarify the Marine Sgt, said he would not follow "unlawful orders" given by the President to include, "detaining U.S. citizens, disarming them or doing anything else that he believes would violate their constitutional rights" What? Im just floored. Where does that come from? What conspiracy theorist came up with this nonsense? Why would this Marine assume the President would order him to do any of the above? 


It's nonsense, that should not be tolerated. 


Then we have the White House Announcing New Steps to Provide Housing Relief to Veterans and Servicemembers and Help More Responsible Homeowners Refinance. This new program is retroactive to 2006. It will help those who were forced to sell their homes at a loss due to PCS. It will also help those (like myself) who were denied a refinance in order to make their mortgages more affordable due to military service. 


See the full press release, here. Contact your lender to see if you qualify. 


It never hurts to educate yourself on programs afforded to you and your family based on your sponsors service! 

Kloster Eberbach

This past weekend the hubs and I took a lil' excursion through a local travel agency. We started off at this old monastery. It's no longer a working monastery, it's now more of a special events center where they'll hold concerts or other events. You see, Germans like any excuse to have a fair, or market. They do it up big for Christmas! Well, apparently Easter is a big deal around here as well! I have heard about the markets and had to check it out. You would not believe how talented these people are and the things they do with easter eggs, it's just amazing. It can also be very expensive. They had eggs for sale at over 50 Euros! Some even, into the 100's! Yeah, we stuck with the 5 and 8 Euro selection. But it was still gorgeous!

The Hubs picked this out for the babe!

The Rhine cruise was good times too. But, I started not feeling so hot and didn't take so many pictures. Just generally yucky, not really "sea sick", but just not 100%.

Hopefully we get orders soon so we can have a better idea of our time schedule for future travel plans. I have heard of a few people have seen their DEROS change and received their new assignments. Hopefully we're next! (a girl can dream, right?)

The worst

I feel like the worst pregnant broad on the planet. I'm not all glowy and joyful all the time. I'm not snapping belly shots on a bi-weekly basis for everyone I ever met on my Facebook. I know a handful of pregnant peeps right now or ones that just recently gave birth and really, I feel like the worst pregnant person.ever.

I am happy to be pregnant and excited to become a momma. But I'm just not outwardly into it like the other people.

Am I completely missing something?