Time Outs!

As you all read in a previous post, Jared and I took a vacation away to Oahu before deployment. I never got around to posting the pictures from our amazing time and thought I would do so today! I am really missing Jared today and it has been building that past few days. Uploading these pictures was a great reminder of how awesome of a trip it was because I got to spend time with my best friend and laugh again at some of the silly things I did (or didn't do!).

This is the tunnel that leads to parking
(the lot was FULL!!) and the start of the trek.

This is the view from outside the tunnel. This isn't even
at the start of the trek and we are this far up!

More of the "not even the starting point" view.

Somewhere up there is where we were headed.

See the path on the right side. Looks fun doesn't it?
This was my idea and it was not a good one!

Close up of the path. Still... not... there... yet!

Part of the path had this fence to protect
those who would fall and roll down the
mountain?

The love of my life! <3 Such a trooper!

Ahh! The view from the top of the second set of steps....

... where I stopped! I just couldn't make
it any further!

This must have been before I stopped climbing...
I wasn't looking so happy after.

I think this is from the top of Diamond Head... I don't
know though, I didn't make it that far :)

View from the top of the hotels along the beach.

The Outrigger Reef is along there somewhere.

Close up of where our hotel was. It's to the right
of where the first pier thing jets out to the water on the
right in the middle of the picture. 

 The other time out from the real world I am referring to is my trip to California this past weekend. A friend of mine from Whidbey moved there a few months ago and said that anyone could come visit her! Well... I took her up on her offer and to California I went! Poor planning on my part meant that I was there for only 37 hours, but I had a wonderful time catching up with Tracey and seeing the few sights we could pack into our day! We "trespassed" on the Biggest Loser Ranch - which we really did not, but it kind of felt that way. It is actually in a park. King Gillette Ranch Park if I remember correctly and they are open every day from 8am until sunset. If it's a park, we can't be trespassing! We then hit up the Hollywood sign, which is best viewed from an observatory. The view is amazing, but who could live with all that smog?! California has the most awesome Frozen Yogurt place called Swirl! You get a cup, serve yourself the amount of soft serve you want (in lots of flavors too!), you add your toppings, and you pay by the weight!!! It was delicious. If there is one around you, you should go... and go often :)

Not as awesome as you would think. They have a ROSS
on Hollywood Blvd and a grocery store!

These yellow signs direct the Biggest Loser trucks and crew
where to go. 

Part of the ranch.

Cameras set up for filming.

TA-DAH!!!!! There it is!

The infamous sign from the show!

We could be part of the crew -  right?
Two military wives and two small children in a Honda Odyssey?!

The Hollywood sign is just to the left of my head. Great self portrait!

Today is a new day...

Our second deployment has started, not without a few bumps in the road though. I am on day 4 of being the single military wife and feel as though I am handling this one better than the last. Maybe it is because I have been through this before and want to set a good example for the spouses that are new to the squadron to show them you can get through this in one piece. I am sure the challenges will come later on when I am on the verge of having our baby boy and being on my own without my best friend. But until then... every day is a new day to wake up and start it off with positive thoughts and hope in my heart. Today is a new day and I am going to take it for what it is and enjoy what I can from it. I miss you Jared, but I CAN do this!

Things happen for a reason, some reasons are left unknown.

To my angel watching over us all,
You never would have made it - you were too small.
Thank you for sending us your baby brother,
Another chance for me to be a mother.
You will always be kept in my heart,
You were always ours from the start.
To my angel who was too small,
Please keep watching over us all.

May 17th, 2011 - Original due date for the first baby I carried for only two and a half months.

As you already know... It's a BOY!

The BIG ultrasound could not have gone better. Within a few minutes our baby boy was proudly showing us what HE was! Because he is our future president, I didn't think posting a picture of his "wanker" would be appropriate (but then again neither is my use of the word wanker)! The other measurements that were taken seem to be right on schedule, if not a few days ahead. By the looks of it, I am thinking this baby has inherited the Francis tini noggin and not the Stolle HUGE noggin.  Baby Stolle is approximately 12 ounces (the weight of a soda can) and his heartbeat at the appointment was 147. I had my regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor and since the last appointment 5 weeks ago I have only gained 2 pounds!!! Wooo hoooo!!! He told me to continue what I was doing, but I don't think he meant eating out a lot and taking a vacation to Hawaii in preparation for deployment. Until next time... Have fun looking at these awesome pictures! :)

This picture needs some explanation. Baby Stolle wouldn't remove his hands from his face to get a good shot of what he looks like. This is the best we could do. You are looking at his chin, lips, space between upper lip and nose, and you can see just a tiny little nose. It's in the middle of the picture... do you see it now? I asked Jared, this is the BOY picture right? He said, no that's his face. Whoops. 

Tomorrow is the BIG day!

I am so happy to say that tomorrow is the BIG day! We made it to 20 weeks! We made it halfway! Because my heart is scarred from previous heartbreak, I really did not think this would ever happen for us. The amount of worrying I have done these last 5 months has been enough for every pregnant woman out there, BUT WE DID IT! I am so excited to be able to share the news with everyone, but it probably will not be until the end of the week. You see... for Mother's Day we are giving our mother's the same gift - being the first ones in the family to find out and to be able to tell the other family members. Well I didn't think this would be a big deal for me to hold in a secret that long, but it is already killing me!! I do not keep big news a secret very well, but Jared said I have to because it was my original plan. After the appointment Jared is under strict instruction to hurry up and finish putting the presents together (-insert pictures-) and head to the post office as quickly as he can. He is then to NEXT DAY these presents so I don't have to wait so long to tell people. :) I look forward to the next blog post when I can announce what we are having and share the pictures of our baby at 5months in the womb. Happy Monday everyone!

One of those ... weeks?!

Hawaii was amazing! Jared and I had such a good time just being with each other. Jared hiked Diamonhead (a huge crater) to the top, but I only made it 90% of the way. The heat and the stairs got the best of me so I ended up stopping at the last 20 ft winding staircase from the top. I gave it the best shot I had! We snorkeled and drove around the island with the Jeep top down. People watching is one of my favorite things and boy! there were sights to be seen. I am so glad Jared and I took this trip - our last trip as two - the last trip before our second deployment.

So how did a wonderful trip turn in to one of those weeks?! I woke up this past Monday with a scratchy throat. I woke up Tuesday morning with a stuffed nose and sore throat. I woke up SUPER early Wednesday morning to catch my flight and starting feeling like total poo. The people on my flight probably hate me now because I was definitely spreading my germs - sneezing a bajillion times, blowing my nose like heee haawwww, and getting up to go potty like it's my job. And that was just the first flight! The second flight was even more horrible! I was not able to have my ears pop on the first flight so my ears were hurting and my nose was running like a leaky faucet. How wonderful! I didn't go to work on Thursday because I didn't want to spread my germs around the office and just laid while Jared worked around the house and changed the oil in both of the cars. Friday I started feeling a little better and thought, oh yes! This cold is going to be gone in no time! ... That was until a disaster worse than the BP oil spill happened.

Jared borrowed my car to take the oil to the car shop to dispose of the used engine oil. Well he got rid fo it all right, he happened to dispose of it... IN THE BACK OF MY CAR! Apparently the oil container cap came off and flooded the back of my SUV. I came home from painting pottery with a friend to see my car being aired out. I got out of the car and said "Oh jared! You are cleaning out my car! How wonderful." The look on his face did not say you are welcome. Instead his face said, I am in BIG trouble and his mouth said, you are going to be pissed. The inside of the back of my car had been completely taken apart and was trying to be cleaned. The engine oil not only spilled in my car, but had gone into the lower compartment that holds random crap and had then leaked out the bottom of my car. Seriously. I took it in stride... for a day. Saturday, Jared woke up with chills and said he couldn't get warm, had a headache, and was sore all over. Oh great, the flu? I left him in bed and set out to clean up my car some more. As much smack as I talk about my car and how I only bought it because I couldn't afford a Honda Pilot, I love my Ford Explorer. I bought it by myself, it only has my name on it, it is mine. My poor baby was covered in oil and no amount of Dawn would get this baby clean. So I cried while cleaning ... and then I got PISSED! What was he thinking?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! The undercarriage of my car was covered with oil and there was new oil that dripped on our driveway. There was still oil in the small spaces of my car and there was no way the under mat was getting cleaning no matter how many times I scrubbed that sucker. I would scrub, let dry, pick it up, and my hand would still be covered in oil. So I cried some more. Jared woke up and we switched places - he cleaned and I got myself ready because I couldn't be in the house anymore. When I returned from my Wal-Mart outing Jared had more bad news to share.... my car wouldn't start. This is an unrelated problem to the worse than BP oil spill. My car wouldn't start a few months ago when it was cold, but everything checked out fine so I assumed my baby doesn't like to be cold and snowy. Yesterday when it wouldn't start there was definitely no method to it's madness. Jared jumped it and took it to AutoZone - we live in a small town, that's the best that we've got! Battery is fine, alternator is fine, starter is fine, and everything is working together to run the car. I have no after market parts that might had a crazy wire that would be draining the battery on accident. What gives?! I don't want my car to turn into Jared's old blue beast and just start having one problem after another. Do we take it to the dealership to have them try to figure out the problem and charge us an arm and a leg? Do we wait and see if it happens again? (we don't have much time before Jared leaves) Do I sell the car and we become a 1 car family while Jared is gone for 6 months? It would not be smart for us to have 2 car payments at the moment, but I don't know if it would be smart for us to have 2 car payments in the future. We don't know if we will be able to see our house, if we do how much of a loss will we take? If we have to rent our house, how much will we have to come out of pocket each month? How wonderful! How do I know that know would be the best time to get rid of the car? How do I know I need to just sell my car, make it someone else's problem (if it is even a problem!) and just save my money for my dream Honda Pilot later?!
... So that's been my week. Broken car. Smelly car. Sick me. Sick Husband. At least the dog hasn't started puking all over the floor. I don't think I could take it.

On a good note - 9 days until we find out what we are having and get to see the baby on the big screen :) At least that makes me happy!