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The first portion of this post was written on our way home from Germany and the latter part is more up-to-date.  :)

Hey folks-

Well, how about this for a story: I’m writing this post from aboard Air Force 2.  Well, actually it’s the plane that becomes Air Force 2 when Vice President Joe Biden is on board. Apparently, Hillary Clinton uses this plane a lot too.... and other heads of state from around the world.  One leader from the Middle East (can’t remember who) just used it to return to his country from the UN Summit after the Afghan ex-president was killed by a suicide bomber a few days ago.  That’s why the plane was across the pond.

So, I’m sitting in a big reclined seat, we got to go into the private room where the leaders hold meetings, and I got to sit up in the cockpit for about 20 minutes and see everything from the pilots’ perspective.  This is awesome!

So, you’re probably wondering how the hell we got this gig.  We arrived at Ramstein AFB yesterday afternoon to stay the night and catch a C17 back to McGuire AFB (where we are stationed) this morning.  We got to the terminal at 4:15 this morning only to find out that flight was canceled and the only other flight going to the states today was at 1:40 this afternoon.  So, we were definitely disappointed.  I told Christian that we should just go check back to the hotel and get some more sleep but he told me he didn’t want to leave the terminal “just in case something becomes available”.  Well, thank God we stuck around because about thirty minutes later, over the loud speaker, we heard an announcement for a flight leaving within the next two hours for Andrews AFB (about 2 hours from our house and right outside DC).  We were picked for the flight, checked in and got ready to board.  We then found out we would be flying on a C-32, and since none of us knew what kind of airplane that was, I Googled it and figured out we had just gotten a first class ticket on Air Force 2.  The area we’re sitting in is full of about 30 business/first class seats with leg extenders.  Then there’s  the private room that I mentioned and a conference room with two separate tables with big, cushy chairs around them. We get to walk all around the plane and the entire crew is dressed in suits, yet they are all active duty military.  It’s really a neat experience!  So, now, I’ll never want to fly a stupid commercial flight again!  haha  Oh, and Christian and I got to pick the in-flight movie.  haha  It’s just so neat b/c we will always remember this.  

Another thing that makes this flight really great is that Christian got to feel Max kick for the first time!  He was moving like crazy when we first took off so I told Christian to put his hand on my belly and he felt it.  So great!  :)

Oh yeah, we’ve also finalized his name.  It is Maximus Cullen Jenkins.  :)  Looks good, huh?  We’ve heard so much shit from people about the name Maximus but we both really love it.  Plus, it means “the greatest”.  Only the best for this kid.  

So, anyway, our trip to Germany was great!  We really didn’t do a whole lot of sight-seeing but we spent a lot of time with the family and ate some delicious food!  Christian’s grandmother cooks soooooo well!  Lunch is always the big meal over there so from about 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., she’s cooking.  And, seriously, it’s all so good.  Some of the stuff is super random for me as an American.  For instance, hamburger patties with onions and all kinds of stuff mixed in served with creamed spinach and scrambled eggs and then you mix it all together.  Random, right?  But, so yummy!  

The little bit of sight seeing we did was fun.  One day, we drove down the Rhine River to see the castles and we had lunch at the same restaurant where we got engaged two years ago!  It was great.  :)  Then, another day, we went to the International Auto Show in Frankfurt.  That was really neat.  We got to see all the new cars from around the world including Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini, concept cars from Audi, BMW and Mercedes and all kinds of other really neat cars.  It took us about five hours to see the entire layout of the show.  We also went into Frankfurt a couple days just to look around at everything we’ve seen before and we did a little shopping.  But, everything is really expensive in Europe for us because the American dollar still isn’t very strong.  It’s getting a little better but it’s still pricey to buy anything over there.  I think it’s about 35-40% more expensive.  For instance, if I buy something for 100 euros, I’m really spending about $135.  So, that stinks.  

All in all, we had a great time and we love Europe so much but I’m so ready to be back to the good ol’ US of A.  Since we’re flying into Andrews AFB, we’ll have to rent a car to get back home this afternoon.  We’re supposed to be going out to Western Maryland to see Christian’s dad this weekend so I’m not sure if we’ll leave later this afternoon or if we’ll wait until the morning.  I swear, the traveling never stops with us.  

So, anyway, I hope all of you have had a great past couple weeks.  The weather is starting to cool off everywhere and we’re getting into Fall up in Jersey!  

I’ll talk to you guys soon!

xoxo, 

Chrissi  

I'll finish up that previously written portion with a little more info about the flight we were on!  Towards the end of the flight, the flight crew allowed two people to sit up in the cock-pit for landing and Christian and another guy were chosen.  So, since Christian does that for a living, he told me to go so I got to sit in the cockpit for the landing of our flight.  It was a really neat experience!

Anyway, we did end up going to Maryland this weekend and now we're finally home.  I am SO DANG happy to be home for a while.  We're home for about two weeks then we head to New Hampshire for the weekend!  I can't wait for that.  We're going to the same party (clambake) we've been going to for the past three years and we're staying in a different B&B this time.  I'm really pumped!  A lot of our friends will be there and it's always a BLAST of a party!

So, that pretty much sums up everything going on on this end.  I hope all of you had a great weekend!

xoxo, 

Chrissi

Frogs and Snails & Puppy Dog Tails!

We're having a baby BOY!!!!!!!!!!  Man, oh, man- I did NOT expect that!  I would have bet someone $100 that we were having a girl.  I guess a woman's intuition isn't right all the time, after all.  Oh, but we are SO excited!  I can't wait to experience the relationship between mom and little boy.  All my friends say it's so special!  And, I'm so excited for Christian.  He wants a boy first so bad!

It wasn't super easy to get a glimpse of little man at first.  He was balled up (napping, I suppose), when we first tried to get a shot of him.  So, I had to drink some juice, jump around a little and tap on my tummy to get him to wake up and move to a better position.  So, we finally got a good view and when the ultrasound tech asked us if we could tell what we were looking at, Christian said "I know it's gotta be ovaries"  haha.  But, the ultrasound tech then started pointing out a leg and then I yelled "and there's a penis!!!!"  hahahaha.  And, yes, there it was, for the world to see!  haha  Christian and I grabbed hands and held tight b/c we were both so excited!

We went to a great facility called Fetal Vision Imaging over in Langhorne, PA and the owner did our ultrasound.  It was actually a guy who decided to open this business after years as a financial advisor in corporate America.  He was super nice.  He gave us a couple of 3D images too so we could see what our baby boy's body looks like.  He had his hands in front of this face so we didn't see his face this time.  We also got a DVD of the whole ultrasound!  I've already watched it and we got home less than an hour ago.  haha

Well, I'm going to keep this post short but I just wanted to explain a little about what we got to experience today!  So, soon, we'll be welcoming Maximus (middle name still to be determined) into the world!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Happy Tuesday!!!

Christian comes home today!!!!  I'm sooooo excited!  He's been gone six weeks and that has been long enough!  I'm hoping this rain doesn't delay his flight any.  He should be in the states in about an hour and a half and then flies into Philly this afternoon.  :)

So, the house is clean, yard is cut and groceries are bought.  I'm so ready to have him around again.  These six weeks haven't been too bad, though.  We've had worse trips, for sure.  This trip was better because we had great communication the whole time.  He was able to call every day and had decent internet connection.  The last long trip he went on was rough b/c the internet signal was awful and we weren't able to talk all the time.  But, I know I still have it easier than a lot of wives who only get to talk to their husbands (maybe) once a week while they're on deployment.  So, I'm certainly blessed and thankful right now.

I hope all of you faired well with TS Lee.  I read a lot of statuses on Facebook that said some of the winds were pretty strong and I also saw several pictures of the beaches down there.  It looks like we're going to be getting the rains from Lee later this week.  We certainly don't need any more rain after all flooding caused by Hurricane Irene.  Luckily there was no rain immediately around us but further north in the state, it's pretty bad!

Well, I went ahead and bit the bullet and scheduled an ultrasound for this Thursday to find out the sex of our little baby!  It's at 3 p.m. Thursday so I'll let all of you know when we find out!

Then, we leave Monday or Tuesday to head to Germany!  I'm excited to get over there!  We're not sure which day we're flying out yet since we're taking a military flight and you never can tell how that's going to work out.  But, we'll fly into Ramstein AFB and rent a car to head up to Frankfurt where Christian's grandparents, aunts and uncles live.  I went ahead and got a baby passport from my doctor with all of my vital info on it just in case something were to go wrong.  Plus, I talked to Christian's aunt who is calling a hospital over there to make sure they would take me just in case something goes wrong.  COVERING ALL BASES! She said the US military has contracts with most hospitals over there so everything should be pretty easy.  Plus, most docs speak fluent english, thank goodness!!  So, good deal.

We'll be gone for about 10 days and Christian and I are hoping to do some other traveling while we're there.  Little day trips and stuff.  We talked about going back to the restaurant where we got engaged.  It was along the Rhine River after we took the castle cruise.  But, this time, we're going to drive along the river and maybe stop to actually walk through some of the castles.  Should be fun!  We also tossed around the idea of going to Paris for a day since it's only about three hours away by fast train.  Who knows if that will happen, though.  I'm not holding my breath on that.  haha  But, I'm very happy that we will have a rental car this time.  Usually when we're in Frankfurt, we just walk everywhere.  But, the walking everywhere usually consists of walking about seven miles a day!  So, this pregnant girl can't guarantee that I'll be able to do that everyday this time.

But anyway, that's about all I have for right now.  I hope you all enjoy your week!

xoxo-

Chrissi

Come on Irene...

"Looks like this hurricane is going to run right over you" says my husband on our daily phone call today.  Thanks for that info, babe.  ;)  So, I've been watching this storm religiously for the last two days and there's really nothing else to do other than prepare.  I've stocked up on water and food to eat if we don't have power.  I have plenty of books to read and I'm about to go to the store to get one item I forgot at the store last night- a dang flashlight.  DUH!  Hopefully we won't lose power for too long but better to be safe than sorry.  I went through two weeks without power after Hurricane Ivan and it was hot as hell.  So, going a little while after this storm shouldn't be too bad since the highs are right around 80 next week.

There are a few things I have to do to prepare around the house before the storm hits....putting away plants, remove window units, storing the grill and securing furniture out on the porch.  I'm going to head northeast tomorrow to my friend Vicki's house to stay with her and her boyfriend while the storm makes it's way through.  I just don't want to be here alone.  So, as soon as it's safe to head back to Jersey, I'll head back home to assess everything.  So, say a little prayer that everything is OK and none of the HUGE trees around my house do any damage.  Luckily, we have renters insurance and everything is replaceable but man, that would suck.  TWO houses in one year damaged by storms?  No thanks.

So anyway, other than the preparations, I'm going to a Phillies game tonight!  haha  My friend Iris gets free tickets for the Marlins games so she invited me to the one tonight.  It will be my first major league baseball game and it should be fun!

Well, y'all take care and I'll keep everyone updated!

xoxo,

Chrissi

What's shakin'?

Apparently, the whole East Coast was shakin' yesterday!  Yes, folks, I was able to feel my first ever earthquake yesterday as the 5.9 magnitude quake hit southwest of D.C. yesterday afternoon.  I was in Philly getting my hair done when the building started shaking and kind of swaying side to side.  I looked outside the window I was sitting next to and all the street light poles and trees were shaking too.  We didn't know what to think.  Was it a huge truck that went by?  Was it an explosion?  Were we under attack?  It was pretty freaky.  Then, about three minutes later, CNN announced that there had been an earthquake that was felt all along the east coast.  It was a strange feeling, that's for sure.  And, I'll go ahead and say that I prefer to never go through anything stronger than that!  "Experience an earthquake" has never been on my bucket list.

Other than that ground breaking news (so many puns, I can't help it), I've just been hanging around the house since I got back from FL this past weekend.  I'm so happy to be home in the presence of my own stuff.  Now, if only Christian didn't get extended until Sept 7, that would be fabulous.  But, I will say that it's good that he's not flying home this weekend because of this dang hurricane headed our way.  How crazy it is that we could have an earthquake and a hurricane in the same week IN NEW JERSEY!  Weird.  I'm going to keep watching this storm to see what our news outlets are saying and if it will really make any big issues around here.  I'm hoping it won't come this way!  I definitely don't want to be here alone while a Cat 3 hurricane runs ashore.  I'm only about an hour away from the coast so if it ends up being a direct hit and still a major hurricane, I'll hang with friends here or head out to Christian's dad's.

I just got home from the doctor for another monthly appointment.  Everything is going really well and the baby's heart rate was in the 150's this time.  I'll have blood work done September 7th as the second part of the sequential screening and at that point, I'll find out when the next ultrasound will be.  I'm assuming the end of September or beginning of October.  That's when we'll find out the sex!  I also got my prenatal passport today.  It's a little document that I'll take with me on our trip to Germany next month.  It has all of the info so far just in case I have to see a doctor over there.  I think it's pretty neat that they do that.

So, not much else is going on.  I have to get out and cut the grass this afternoon.  Blah!  I started it Monday but it was wet and thick so the lawn mower kept struggling.  So, hopefully, it's dried out by now so I can get it finished.

Hope all of you are having a good week!  Talk soon-

Chrissi

Cruel, cruel Summer

Bananarama should be singing their song, "Cruel Cruel Summer", every day down here in Pensacola.  Let's just say I have gotten used to the "warm" summers up north and was not prepared for the Florida heat that I grew up with.  It has been so brutally warm that I haven't wanted to do anything outside.  I would love to be at the beach every day but it's unbearable unless you're in the water the entire time.  Plus, the water feels like bath water so it's not the most refreshing thing in the world.

But, all in all, I've been having a good time.  I've spent a lot of time with family and friends and just running the usual errands that I run while I'm home.  I am pretty ready to get back to my house and regular routine but I'm making the most of my time here, that's for sure!

I'll be 13 weeks tomorrow!  That's so crazy to me!  In the beginning, I thought this pregnancy would take FOREVER but it seems to be going by pretty quickly.  I'm feeling better and I have gotten most of my energy back.  I'm so thankful that I never really had any morning sickness and the worst thing about my first trimester was just being tired.  I didn't want to do anything at all!  But, now, I'm much more energetic and I'm finally back in the gym!  That makes me feel a thousand times better too.  Since I worked out so much before I got pregnant, I felt like a total slob during the first trimester because I really didn't work out at all.  But, now I'm back to jogging and lifting weights (lighter weight, more reps of course).  I'm hoping to keep up a great workout routine throughout pregnancy so I can have an easier delivery and lose weight more quickly after the baby is born.

I hoping for an easy delivery because I'm really hoping to do it totally naturally.  I just figure so many other women have done it so I can too!  Plus, I want the whole true experience, pain and all.  I know it's going to be awful and I'm not totally opposed to having an epidural but I want to try my hardest to avoid it.

Christian is still overseas and actually got extended another 10 days.  So, that stinks.  But, as soon as he gets back, we're heading to Germany!!  I'm so excited!  I always get antsy this time of year because we always go in September and I look forward to it so much.  I love being around his family over there and just taking in the European culture.  I think we're going to try to leave on September 11 on a military flight so it doesn't cost us anything to get over there.  Then, we'll do the same coming back about 10 days later.  That is probably one of the absolute BEST benefits of being in the military.  I really wanted to go to NYC on September 11 and see the ceremonies marking the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 but if we leave that day, we obviously won't be able to do that.

So anyway, I'm leaving this coming Friday to head back home and my dad's tagging along to keep me company.  So, we'll get there Saturday and he's flying back down here on Sunday.  Should be a good time.

Well, I hope all of you are having a good weekend!  Stay cool!

xoxo,

Chrissi

One of the most amazing experiences of my life

Well, I got to meet our little one again today.  I had my first trimester screening done which consisted of an ultrasound and some blood work.  So much has changed since our first ultrasound that was done about 5 weeks ago!  We have a true baby now!  The heart beat sounds like galloping horses and the baby had hiccups!!!  I laughed so much watching this!  It was just so cute!  He/she moved around quite a bit while the ultrasound tech pushed on my stomach to make sure the baby got in the right position to take measurements.

I sat there will little tears falling down the side of my face as I watched this little miracle on the black and white screen.  All I could think about was how badly I wished Christian was there to see it.  I felt selfish for getting to see it while he's over in the 120 degree heat in Bahrain.  But, he just called me and we talked all about and and he was cracking up when I told him about the hiccups!  haha  :)

I'm so happy and relieved that we have a healthy baby right now.  I'm sure all moms-to-be worry like I have been but we've worked a while on this and it's just so special to us.

So, now I'm going to get to work on choosing all the baby gear and picking out stuff for a nursery.  I'm trying my hardest to find stuff that I really like but I CANNOT find any bedding sets less that $400 that I like!  I can't stand themes (no offense to anyone else.... some are super cute but they're just not my style) so I'm looking for all white bedding that can be used for a boy or girl.  Nothing too frilly like eyelet lace or anything.  The only place I've found it is on Poshtots.com and if any of you know anything about that site, it's strictly a dream site for me.  Never in a lifetime would I spend that kind of money.  So, who knows.  I will be using a print from one of my favorite artists in the nursery though.  (www.storypeople.com)  I have a couple to choose from and some of them are gender specific so I'll have to wait to order those.  The colors are bright and I'll accessorize with other stuff to offset the white.  Christian almost has the hoosier cabinet refinished!  That will be our changing station.  So excited about that!  I already have a white dresser from when I was a little girl that we'll use.  So, the only thing we have to buy is a crib!  Awesome!

Also, we have names almost finalized so I'll go ahead and reveal those so I can stake claim!  haha  If it's a girl, the name will be Adele Monroe.  I'm so ridiculously in love with that name.  I think it's gorgeous.  Plus, Adele means "to bring joy or humor".  I love the meaning.  Then, if it's a boy, we have the first name of Maximus but we'll call him Max.  We just haven't picked out a middle name yet.

Well, glad the cat is officially out of the bag now on Facebook.  So, anyone can post anything now.  haha

I hope all of you have a wonderful week!  Alison gets in town tomorrow and then we head down to Pensacola on Friday and Saturday!  Can't wait to see her!!!

Now I have to go feed myself since I'm starving every hour now!  This little jumping bean is growing like crazy!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Is it the end of August yet?

Christian left this morning for 30 days in Bahrain and it was a tough one for me.  Maybe it's due to all these additional hormones but I was crying like a baby.  I took him to base at about 6:30 this morning and then came home and slept until about 10:30.  I hate these days.  But, then again, he's only gone a month.  It could be WAYYYY worse.  So, I'll make it through it.  It just makes it harder since I have doctors appointments and ultrasounds that he'll miss.  Blah....

So, enough with my pity party.  I just ask all of you to say a little prayer that he stays safe over there.  :)

In the mean time, I've gone a lot of plans coming up!  I'm spending this weekend down in Ocean City, NJ with my friend Vicki and some of her friends.  She and he boyfriend rented a place down there for the rest of the summer so I'm pretty excited about the beach and hanging with friends!  I'll come back home either Saturday night or Sunday morning then I have a brunch date with my friend Paige on Sunday.  Monday will be a regular Monday and then Tuesday I have my next appointment.  I'm having the sequential screening done which consists of a very in depth ultrasound and some blood work.  It's something that was optional for me and the purpose of this screening is to determine if there is a high chance of any kind of genetic defect (Down Syndrome, etc).  I'm, frankly, just doing it to have an extra ultrasound.  The genetic testing doesn't really matter to me.  But if I didn't have this done, I wouldn't have another ultrasound until around 20 weeks!  That's like 9 weeks away!  I'm already nervous enough so I couldn't imagine waiting that long.  So, please pray that everything turns out well on Tuesday for us!

Then, Wednesday, ALISON GETS HERE!  I'm SOOOOO excited!  I can't wait!  We'll spend a little time in the city so I can show her some neat stuff and hopefully eat somewhere neat and then show her around our town.  We'll probably leave Friday to start our drive down to Pensacola.  I'm really excited about coming home too.  I miss everyone so much!  There's no place like home, that's for sure!  I can't wait to be on the beach and get some good Florida sun!  This white girl needs a little color, big time.
I'm not sure when I'll head back up here from Florida.  I'm planning on leaving on the 15th to drive back up.  I have another doctors appointment on August 17th so unless I change that to a little later, I'll still be leaving on the 15th.

Then, I think Christian gets back around August 28th so I'll have to figure out some other stuff to do to kill time between the 17th and then.  Hopefully I'll be able to go down to VA Beach to visit friends down there.

Something else that's been going on is that I've been reading "The Help".  Holy moly that book is sooooooo good and I CANNOT WAIT to see the movie.  It comes out August 10th so I'll definitely be seeing it while I'm home.  For those of you who have not read it, I highly recommend it.  I'm half way through and it's such an easy read.  It's about 1960s Mississippi when civil rights was becoming a big thing and it's about a white girl who helps the black maids (the help) get their stories out about what it's like to work for white families.  It's so great and makes you cheer on the maids!  I can't wait to read the rest of it.

I'd like to also say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my big brother!  I hope he has an amazing day!  I'm going to try and turn this lazy day around and get my butt out of the house.  I hope all of you have a wonderful day and weekend!  I'll see most of you in the next couple weeks!  Love y'all!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Holy Lord it's HOT!

So, you all probably know by now (b/c of my bitching) that we don't have central air.  We have three window units in this house (one in main living room *the only one downstairs*, one in master bedroom, and one in the quest bedroom).  Well, it's hot as hell.  Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that there is a wicked heat wave covering much of the country.  Well, NJ is smack in the middle of it.  Highs of 100 for three days in a row with all kinds of air quality warnings that come along with that make this chick want to stay inside ALL DAY LONG.  Those air quality warnings really freak me out.  Apparently, according to a random woman one day, NJ is part of the cancer belt in the US b/c of all the pharmaceutical plants (ironic) and nuclear plant around here.  Well I, personally, don't want cancer and I'm not taking any crazy risks by going out for a breath-shortening jog while those warnings are posted all over my weather.com page.  No. thank. you.

Well, before the heat really got here, Christian and I were in Maryland this past weekend visiting his dad.  We had a good time and he took me to Deep Creek Lake (kind of a resort area out there) for lunch and we ended up looking at a few houses around the lake.  Man, we fell in love with one log cabin that had an Open House that day.  Of course, none of that is really realistic right now but we definitely eventually want a lake house somewhere.  I'm hoping for a lake house to be our permanent residence in about six years when Christian's retired from the Navy and working for someone else.  Who knows.

Anyway, we got home this past Tuesday and it's been a warm one ever since.  I've still been feeling pretty good.  I'm still really tired at certain points during the day and I get nauseous in the afternoons/evenings almost every day now.  It's not awful but it's not fun.   I'm almost 10 weeks now which is really exciting.  I'm so ready to be at the 12/13 week point so I'm out of the first trimester!  My waistline is expanding a little each day and my pants are pretty uncomfortable.  I bought a Bella Band yesterday so I might start using that pretty soon so I can wear my shorts unbuttoned.  haha  I've been reading some pregnancy books.  First off, "What to Expect When Your Expecting" is truly the pregnancy bible.  It has an answer to just about every question that pops into my mind.  It's great.  I also read Jenny McCarthy's book "Belly Laughs" and it was HILARIOUS!  I was laughing out loud the whole way though.  Sooooo funny.  Those are the only two I've gotten and probably all I'll be reading.  I don't want to get a thousand different ideas in my head so I figure I'll just keep it simple.  :)

Speaking of reading, I'm REALLY wanting to read "The Help" and then see the movie when it comes out.  I've heard it's so good and I can't wait to read/see it.  I also need to get back on the studying train for the GRE.  I have slacked off quite a bit and I take the GRE at the end of August so hopefully I'll do fine.  Ugh!

Anyway, I hope all of you are having a great week and have something fun planned for the weekend!  You Floridians are lucky that you have the water close-by!  I can't wait to be down there in a couple weeks to take a dip in the Gulf and in a pool!  I miss swimming so much!

Talk soon-

Chrissi

Whoa- June 20 was my last post???

Sorry folks, I obviously have let this blog thing go to the way side.  There's been a lot going on in the land of the Jenkins in the last month.  So, I'll simply catch you up to speed!

Well, the summer is in full swing and we've had our share of heat waves up here already.  And, our lack of central air simply SUCKS!  Yes, we have window units but it is NOT the same.  Oh well, though.  Summers up here don't last too terribly long and I can get by with the house being around 78-80 (with the air on).  Granted, I make our bedroom about 65 degrees at night, which is awesome.  But, I'm definitely ready for Fall!  I love Fall up here so much.  It's amazing with the leaves changing and crisp temps.

Other than the weather, another main topic of our summer was Dad & Rhonda coming to visit on 4th of July weekend.  We had such a fantastic time and they got to see a lot of our area.  We went to the AT&T National Golf tournament, a first Friday celebration in a nearby town, and then stayed at the Ritz Carlton on their last night in Philly.  It was a great time!  I'm so glad they came up and now I'm waiting on the next visit from someone!  Alison (my best best friend) is coming to visit August 3rd and then she and I are driving down to Florida so I can spend about a week in Pensacola!  I'm super pumped about her coming to visit!  Love her so much!  And, the roadtrip is bound to be an experience!!  haha  You never know what will happen when the two of us get together.

Christian has been traveling quite a bit on short trips this summer and he leaves for a 30 day trip to Bahrain on July 27th.  I'll certainly miss him and this is the first time he will be in the Middle East since we've been together.  So, I have my own stresses about that.  But, I'm faithful that everything will be fine.  :)  Before he leaves, we're heading to Maryland this weekend to see his family for a few days.  They have a family reunion this Saturday so that should be a good time.  We'll also play some golf and enjoy the cooler weather in the mountains of western Maryland.  We come back Tuesday and then we only have one more week before he leaves.

And, to get to the main topic, I think everyone that this blog is sent to already knows that I'm pregnant.  We're super excited but I'm still pretty nervous.  As you all know, we tried for about a year with no luck.  I was referred to a fertility specialist who found a polyp in my uterus and I eventually had a hysteroscopy and polypectomy to remove it.  And within a couple weeks, I got pregnant!  I'm eight 1/2 weeks now and everything has been going ok.  I had my first ultrasound at 6 weeks and 4 days and we were able to see the heart beating.  That was pretty awesome.  I had a minor scare yesterday when I was at work and had some pretty bad cramping and ended up coming home to rest.  The cramping went away as soon as I laid down and relaxed and I had no bleeding whatsoever.  I called my doc and he said it may have been from the exam I had the day before (normal pap and all that stuff that goes on at first OB appt) or just because my uterus is expanding and if there isn't any bleeding, there's no need to be alarmed at this point and to let him know how I was feeling today.  So, I called him back today to let him know that I feel fine and they just told me to drink plenty of fluids and stay off my feet as much as possible.  So, I didn't go to work today either and I'm off until next week.  Since I stand for about five hours at a time at work, I figure that's not the best thing to do when the doc tells me to stay off my feet.  So, other than that, I'm feeling fine!  I have some very sore boobs, I'm crazy tired and hungry almost all the time.  Just please say a little prayer that everything is still OK and continues to go OK throughout the pregnancy.  I assume it's normal to freak out about something happening but this has been a long time coming and I just hope and pray that everything stays healthy.

I know there are some of you that I don't directly send this to but who follow my blog anyway.  I just ask anyone to please NOT post anything on Facebook.  This blog is a little more intimate and I don't mind a few people knowing but I'm not ready to broadcast it to the world just yet.  Thanks ahead of time.  :)

So, needless to say, we've been busy!!!  I also want to congratulate two of my best friends on their pregnancies too!  Laura and Stan are expecting twins!!!!  And Christina and Chad are expecting a little one a few weeks before we are.  Sooo exciting.  I would absolutely freak if I was having twins just because Christian is gone and that would NOT be easy but I know Laura and she's a rock and her and Stan's families will certainly be there for them since they all live within about 20 minutes of eachother!  Fantastic.  Christina is my friend who lives in VA Beach and he husband is actually deployed right now until December and she's due in January.  So, I'll have to visit her to keep her company a little during the pregnancy.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a fantastic week!  It's more than half way over now!  Enjoy the upcoming weekend and I'll keep y'all updated on everything.

xoxo,

Chrissi