Happy Easter!

Lily's first Easter. Oh my. We went to the egg hunt at church Saturday and while she wasn't the smallest baby there, she was the slowest. She came out with 4 eggs in her basket. (Which she was ecstatic about those 4.) She would've ended up with 3, but a girl was kind enough to ask if she should leave the yellow one for Lily to pick up. I figured she wouldn't miss 1 out of the 50 she was fast enough to get. :)

The first egg she saw was blue and for some reason that was the color she fixated on the for the rest of the time. She would drop whatever egg she had if she saw another blue one! Usually, the one she saw got snatched up before she could get at it, but she didn't seem too put out about that. So she would look around for another, finally get there (we would block it from the other kids' view), pick it up, turn it around a few times- then put it down and look around some more. We couldn't get her to put them in her basket. Apparently that's what we were there for... Actually, when Clay's wife, Denise, saw Lily's basket, she threw a few more in it. Really, since she's not gonna eat the candy, does she really need to get the most eggs? I think she got a decent haul for 10 months. :) She seemed pretty satisfied as well.

Connor and Lily

They read the Easter story before the kids went out to find eggs and the girl that sits in front of us in church was sweet enough to take Lily with her to sit up close. I tried to get a picture, but she kept getting hidden by other kids! It was sweet, she kept standing up (which put her about even with the lady's chair) and putting her hand on the lady's leg or pulling on her sweater. She even tried to crawl away- surprise! Thank goodness Connor is a quick girl...

Sunday morning was busy- we went to the sunrise service, breakfast, Sunday School and church. Then we came home and didn't move for the rest of the day. Lily wanted to tell everyone about her adventures during the services that we had her in! Then she just wanted to sleep...We put her down for a nap at 5:00, she woke up to eat at 8:00, went back to bed, woke up to eat at 6:30, and is still asleep actually...Apparently, she was wore out...

maybe I'll take a nap right here...

 

 

 

I suppose it's time for an update...

Thank goodness you can log into this thing with Google! I don't think I would've been able to remember my username or password... So, what's new? Well, we had a baby! I can't tell if she came yesterday or 10 years ago. Time is in this strange continuum lately. But we love her and every day we ask each other "Is she NOT the cutest baby you've ever seen? How is she always cute?" No, we're not biased! I don't remember when she started rolling, but she started crawling around 4 or 5 months and she's not quite walking yet at 10 months. You know, I think I'm ok with that. On the one hand, she may have to slow down while she figures it out, but then I'm sure it will progress to RUNNING! We can hardly catch her when she kicks it in high gear as it is. Sooo...yes. We finally got her used to the weather in Arizona and then we moved to North Carolina. (I'm sure she's not a fan of going to bed in flannels on a night that turns out to not be cold and wearing thin cotton on a night that turns out to be freezing...) We switched her over from a baby bath tub to the regular tub and it's safe to say that she's not really relaxed and tired when she gets out of there. Splash, splash! Giggle, giggle! Squeeze the water toys at mom! Oooh! A faucet! Water going over my head- better stand up on the side before I DROWN!!!! (Sputter, sputter!) Splash! Splash! She still goes to bed relatively easily, HALLELUJAH, even with all the moving around and staying at different places all the way up here. Her schedule actually transitioned easily since we're a full 3 hours different. That's like just going to bed instead of down for a nap...She runs around the whole house all day long (except for when she's in her high chair eating- which is happening more and more these days). When the cat comes in the house at night she will chase him around the living room and kitchen until we put a stop to it (too much and it'll ruin the cat's dinner and we don't mess with the cat's dinner...). She talks all the time. Lots of inflection but not too much variation. Really, no variation at all. Just Da. The occasional Da-D! (hard emphasis on the ending D). That usually means, I'm very serious about this- look at me when I'm talking to you.

In case you think our lives are all about Lily, well, they are. Few things happen that she doesn't have her sticky 'lil fingers in. But everyone's doing fine. Granddaddy finds things to do to occupy his time, Thomas works his job 5 days a week, and I just sit around all day on my blog. :) Lily just cannot get enough of Granddaddy. He has the best food and he plays with her all during dinner.

I think the biggest thing (s) we have difficulty getting used to here is/are the bugs and SPIDERS. I. Declare. Does any of the rest of world have any spiders or are they all here? I've seen teensy tiny snakes by the back steps once or twice and there's a frog that gets stuck down there once in a while. So...not spending all my time there. And you wonder why I'm waiting to get super thick gardening gloves and boots before trying to pull weeds or ANYTHING in the yard? You'll see me beating the bushes with sticks for an hour before I get the nerve to put my hand in there. shiiiiiiver.

P.S. I would post pix to end this, but alas, they are all on facebook anyway...

Happy May (the 2nd) Day!

First of all, there is no exciting news yet regarding Lily. There- now you don’t have to scroll around until I finally tell you that.  Today marks the beginning of week 38! It could be today, it could be in a month. The next doctor’s appointment is tomorrow so we’ll have a slightly better idea then.

Since we had voted ‘undecided’ regarding the middle name for quite some time, we finally settled down and figured one out that we mutually agreed upon. So it’s official. Lily Mae Klopfenstein it shall be, now and forevermore. Unless something drastic happens. 

the touch screen wall at the Hard Rock- apparently verrry entertaining...

There was a fair here!!! I haven’t been to a fair since I started college so of COURSE I made Thomas go. It wasn’t huge or anything and it was slightly less exciting than the Sandwich fair. Still, the fair food was just as gratifying. His friend Alex went with us, and they both just kept asking, “What do we do now? What are we doing?” It’s the fair! You just walk around and do whatever you want! I can’t MAKE you have a good time…We did find sea lions in lieu of the petting zoo (which was closed when we got there).  And there was the flamey-throwey acrobatic people as well. This was how they were discovered: “blah blah blah LOOK! FIRE!”

 The next time I'm on here there will (hopefully) be a third one of us!

The Klopfensteins :)

 

Half of February, all of March and one day in April

It has been brought to my attention that I am TERRIBLE at remembering to update this and for that I do apologize! :) Now, that being said, I will try to bring you up to speed in our life together out here.

First I shall start with da babby. We got a package from Thomas' parents on Thursday and I ran back up to the house with it and was all excited! Thomas just sighed and said, "I swear, if that is ALL for the baby..." LOL (And, of course, it wasn't ALL for the baby.)
I have met all 3 doctors that work at the OB office where I attend religiously (almost more so than church, it seems) and am very pleased with all of them. So I know when I go into labor I won't be unpleasantly surprised with a doctor I don't like...
She's still moving all the time (except when someone's trying to feel her move...then it's like 'if I don't move, they won't know I'm here'). Most of the time I don't even pay attention unless she's trying to thump her way out. She does this thing once in a while, it feels like she's rhythmically banging her head against my pelvis as if to say, "This is getting BORING." I'm not sure if she's old enough to get the hiccups yet but sometimes I think she has them- it's a very weird feeling. And no stretch marks! (yet, knock on wood) Last time I checked I was about 147 lbs. Seventeen pounds gained total. Such an accomplishment- my body loooves fat and hates to let it go. Eight pounds to go and about 7 weeks left. Not bad. Although I haven't weighed myself since yesterday- probably put on at least 5 pounds...gluttons, all of us.

33 weeks

When people ask me what things are hard to do with a belly, I tell them my pilates story. If you've heard it already, forgive me. I still walk a lot (and I was even jogging once or twice a week until they yelled at me...) so I find it beneficial to stretch and as long as I'm down there, I usually do some kind of yoga or pilates. I try to remember all the things I want to do that involve the floor so I only have to get down there when I have to...Anyway. So one day I got adventurous and decided to see if I could still do rolling-like-a-ball. You hold your ankles and rock back and forth- feels wonderful on your spine and is great for your abs. Well, I rolled back. On the way up, I reached about a 45 degree angle before gravity and lack of abs pulled me back down to the floor. I'm pretty sure I looked like a lady bug- on my back with my legs and arms waving around in the air. So apparently it is no longer an option to go from on my back to a sitting position!
We finally signed up for the childbirth class at the hospital! I thought for sure we would never find a weekend that Thomas wasn't working that corresponded with a day they offered it. So, next Sunday should be a long, 8-hour, eye-opening experience. His only complaint was that it was 8 hours. Other than that, he hasn't voiced any of his other oppositions to going- big point for Thomas! :) Bless his heart...
I have a nurse that comes out to the house about once a week. Basically, it boils down to being educational but it's very convenient. I don't have to go anywhere- she comes to me! In case we couldn't find a day that Thomas could come with me to the class, we scheduled the labor and delivery day when he could be here. She'll bring all of her fun charts and scary pictures and we'll have ourselves a mini session! She's not quite a doula, but it's along those lines. It's a lot of 'this is what's going on', and 'call your doctor immediately if this happens' and 'it's time to make a birth plan'. And she'll keep coming for a while after the baby's born. Very helpful for a first-timer who has no idear what's going on.

I ran away to Greenville for a weekend! And, of course, I didn't take any pictures. Do I ever take pictures?! I think I'm tagged in one on facebook from my cousin's fiance's shower...that should count. :) It was very busy, but an awesome weekend. We ran around a lot, Marcia grilled out (with super yummy potato chip-pey thingies), went to a few bridal showers, did a little shopping and I definitely came back with a bag much fuller than it was when I arrived. I stole back some of my clothes I had left with Audrey and then went a little farther and just stole some of HER clothes (well, she never wore them!). I felt like I had a weekend at a resort- I had girl time (badly needed I'm afraid), a haircut (also badly needed- Marcia asked me if I was gonna take a shower when she picked me up from the airport, was it that bad?), we used a tree trimmer to create the illusion of two separate eyebrows once again and there was ice cream all around!
I did feel bad leaving Thomas to take care of Jimmy. Hard to do when you're not home for 14 hours...But he coerced one of his friends to pop by and let him out at lunchtime. Jimmy is such a love bug so I wondered how he would do with no human interaction for that long during the day. He only acted out a few times, but one night Thomas texted me and said he left the door open and left to go somewhere. I didn't think he was serious but you never know! So I called him just to make sure we hadn't lost the doggie and to remind him that he probably didn't want the tv stolen and he assured me that he was indeed kidding and he would never just kick the dog out.Well, thank goodness...

brushing his toofers!

Jimmy is very good about brushing his teeth. You know, all around he's a very clean dog. He loves baths, too. That only gets annoying when you realize he's staring at you from the edge of the curtain asking to join you...

he's bobbing for ice

He has many tricks it seems. My favorite is watching him bob for ice. He'll grab one and take it somewhere to eat it then come back and dunk his nose for another piece! He usually remembers not to breathe in with his nose underwater... Just recently we discovered that if we put a treat inside his kong it takes him a while to get it out. When he does it's usually just good luck- he'll pick it up and shake it and the treat will fall out. But the first 15 minutes of him trying to lick it out while growling in frustration are humorous.
Another trick is finding pills and eating them. We left his fish oil pills on the counter and he decided he wanted to eat a ton of them. (He still has dandruff issues so instead of getting a clue and getting the blue, he gets pills to make his coat shiny.) Bless his poor heart, I think his tummy hurt him all night last night. He's tried to eat the Tums before, but he must have lost interest because he never quite got the top chewed off...or maybe he didn't want help with his heartburn, who knows? He still does the bee-eating thing. The other day he broke his own record. 7 bees in 5 minutes. I don't know where they kept coming from, but he was delighted to have them!

he forgot to make a wish!!

21st birthday!

Yesterday was Thomas' birthday! We fared much too sumptuously, I'm afraid. I think we ate out every meal. He only got sung to at IHOP, but that was his fault. He was the one that told them it was his birthday- I never said a word.  We ate out on the patio at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. By his own admission, Thomas does not like picnics and it was very obvious. There was one little fly and one little bee at first. But then they smelled the wings and went and told ALL of their friends. So the last half of his lunch was spent threatening the insects with rolled silverware. Jimmy would have been useful right about then!
We didn't even think we would have room for cake when we got back from dinner. We just thought we would blow out the candles, take a picture and open presents, but it turns out we could be even more gluttonous cuz we made room for some! It must have been a good day because we were too tired to even go to the pool. (It was in the 90's yesterday!) And he has to work this weekend, so staying up late only to get up around 4 didn't appeal to him all that much. Poor feller.

I think those were the most exciting highlights- I won't wait another 2 months to update!

The Klopfensteins :)

Happy Valentine's Day! (almost...)

Everyone asks me now if I'm fat. Yes, I'm fat. I'm about 26 weeks, so if I wasn't I would pushing a lot harder to be seen by a doctor. :) I think the worst thing about it is that it feels like my abs are in a state of hypotrophy (translation- it's way harder trying to get up from a sitting position). But the uncomfortable-ness doesn't travel too much farther than that so I feel lucky. Next, an update on the doctor situation. Yesterday was my appointment. And the entire 45 minutes spent sitting in the waiting room went very well. Apparently they had never called over to the old OB to get my records faxed and so I waited. And waited. And waited until I really was convinced my bladder was going to explode. And then the doctor was behind because she had just gotten back from a delivery and the place was backed up and they STILL hadn't gotten the fax yet....so they asked if I could reschedule. FINE. But I need a bathroom! So, irritating story cut short, my appointment was pushed until the 28th. Ergo, we aren't gonna find out what the gender is for a much longer time. Grrr. I'm not sure why this whole process must be this complicated but I hope it's for a good reason! 

Even with some hassle with the airlines, Steve and Sue made it down here for a visit! The weather was warm and not a drop of rain fell! I don't know if we were really that busy or maybe Thomas and I are just used to being lazy, but we both decided that at the end of every day they were here, we were exhausted! Which was nice. :) When they left on Monday, Jimmy just collapsed and slept all day. But that WAS their fault- they insisted on spoiling him incessantly, playing tug of war all day (which we don't do too often with him or he would neeeever leave us alone), and coercing secrets out of him for cheese (see picture below). In return, he fell in love with them. So, probably, mission accomplished. :)

We got to go hiking one day, camped out in front of the TV for the Superbowl another and the crib even got put together while they were here! It was such a good time. The next time we see them, there will be another addition to the family. (And you know, that still is weird to think about...) Oh. And if you're wondering why all of a sudden there are more pictures, it's because Sue found the camera. If we looked in that car once, we looked a thousand times. She wasn't even looking for it and she found it. So unfair....

Telling Grammy secrets

"I hate man-kind...."

Speaking of the poor poochie, he had his surgery on Tuesday. I thought I felt bad when we dropped him off. When I picked him up that afternoon, I thought I would die. He was sooo pitiful, and I am absolutely defenseless against pitiful. It didn't help that he was still a little dopey. Getting into the car was a process, but when we got home and he saw the stairs, he just looked at me (as best he could- he was pretending his E-collar weighed a thousand pounds) like, "Would you be so kind as to carry me up? I just don't think I can hold my head up that long." So we compromised. I helped him lift the cone up so that he wouldn't bump into EVERY step on the way up, and he lifted one foot at a time. We only make him wear the cone of shame when we're both out of the house. When we're home, he's easy to catch licking (unless he sneaks off to the bedroom) and he acts oh-so-guilty when we tell him no. Oh, and I've discovered he likes to eat flying things that go bzzzzzz. Which is great for flies. But apparently that also applies to bees (which look lots juicier). And one visited yesterday. I tried to get it to leave without him noticing, but he snapped at it when I turned around and he sure got it! The mouth closed and INSTANTLY re-opened. And stayed open for a few seconds. Then he tried licking the roof of his mouth which is just comical. I gave him some ice to eat and his face never swelled up so he must not be allergic!

If anything super exciting or urgent comes up, we shall try to keep everyone informed!

The Klopfensteins :)

The end of January!

I had no idea today was the 31st! Well, January came and went in a hurry, that's for sure...As I'm sure everyone is still wondering about the gender of the baby situation, no news is HORRIBLE news. This whole referral thing has been a nightmare. I was calling them about once or twice a week to see if I could find the right person to talk to, but finally last week we just went in to the office and we're going back there today. We shall see if the fire under their roll-y chairs needs to be re-lit... Oh, and the sweet tooth thing has returned! Very sad. I was hoping I would just continue with the pickle/salt thing, but no. It's back to chocolate and ice cream, baby! (Thank goodness Thomas doesn't like my favorite kind of ice cream- zero competition.) I don't feel like a boat all the time, just some of it, but Renee informed me that pretty soon here I'll be a yacht. Oh goody. The farther along I get, the more people smile at me when I'm out. I'm pretty sure it's just because I'm fatter than they are...

The pic makes the pooch's eyes look like he's a minion, but he's still super sweet! He's a spot-stealer though. The moment you get up from the couch, he's there. Actually, if he sees a vacant inch in between 2 people on the couch, he's there. He went to the vet a few weeks ago for his shots, and he did very well! The only thing he whined and cried about was getting his nails cut. I thought for sure they were turning him into glue back there...I'm still not sure he will forgive us when he goes back for his little surgery...Of all the times I've taken him to the dog-park, he's the only one I've ever seen there that's not fixed. Thank goodness he's not too aggressive. When he finds a pit or a boxer, he pretty much just shadows them wherever they go. If they start to get rough he just hops around sideways like a bunny saying "AH! What are you doing?! I was told to play nice and you are NOT playing nice! HELP!" The good news is he's completely oblivious to any fights that get started. One started about 10 feet away from him and he just turned around and snuck away (please don't notice me, please don't notice me)...It's a good thing he doesn't cause problems because he ignores me too when we're there. Although I will say, when I want to leave, all I have to do is catch his eye and start walking towards the gate and he is right there- so no one has to know he's not completely trained to come when called! :)

Thomas' parents are coming this weekend-woo hoo! Thomas got off work and if Sue doesn't bring too much rain with her this time, maybe we'll get to do some hiking or something outdoor-sy. :) But even if it's pouring down rain, we'll still be glad they're coming.

As far as food goes, the most-cooked item award still goes to cookies! A close second goes to pancakes, but you can't just pick up a pancake...the concept's not the same...see, this is why I'm gonna be a yacht!

Good news! There's gonna be a girl I know living next door! I use the term 'know' loosely here- I've seen her like twice, but still. Some of Thomas' friends were gonna move into the complex and the one next door happened to still be vacant so if all goes as planned, some of his friends will be much closer and one of them's a GIRL! :) I hope she never reads this, cuz she's gonna think I'm a freak...

(When Steve and Sue come I'm sure there will be lots of pictures taken, so we'll be sure to steal some to post!)

The Klopfensteins :)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 everyone! I have decided to blog this year. Partly because we are so far away and partly because this should be added incentive to start taking more pictures. :)

Apartment news: Slowly (but surely) we're getting the place put together. The main pieces of furniture are there- the bed, the couch, the tv...and I'm very satisfied with the kitchen! :) It's nice to be a street or two away from everything, but the only downside is that you walk out of your door and run into somebody! I will say that our apartment is more on the edge of the complex- there's not exactly THOUSANDS of doors and decks and stairs right outside of the window. And you can even see the house with the Christmas lights! I'm telling you, that was the only reason I was sure it was the holiday season...one house had lights. :) As soon as I find the camera, I'll post pictures of the place (I know some of you have been asking for those).

Baby news: Now, don't get excited. Everyone seems to be asking so no, we don't know what it is quite yet. I promise- we haven't found out and not told anyone! As soon as the right information gets sent to the right people I can call and make an appointment and we will let everyone know just as soon as we find out. :)You know how some people get that cute little bump and everyone just knows they're pregnant? I just look fat. I feel the urge just to tell people that I'm pregnant so they'll know I'm not trying to look bad in my clothes! Life isn't fair...The military needed to have a positive pregnancy test on file from their lab, so we went over and I got some blood drawn. The next day I get a call from one of the nurses. She informed me that my test was, in fact, positive! (surprise!) I informed her that I sure hoped it was...She just kind of laughed and asked if I'd taken a lot of pregnancy tests. Well, I'm 21 weeks so I've done more than just take home pregnancy tests! :)

Dog news: We got a dog! It's the best of all worlds- he's already house-trained and now I have someone to take me on a walk. :) He was found on the base and since no one claimed him, he was up for grabs. So, we grabbed. He is a lab/pit mix, black with some white markings and he's super sweet and almost too cuddly. The last chance for the real owners will come when we take him to the vet. We'll see if he's chipped then. I wish we knew his name! For right now, we haven't named him. We've run tons of names by him, but he doesn't really seem interested in any of them...One look at his face and you know you can't name him anything too butch-like- he's much too sweet. But on the other hand, we can't call him Snickers...So for now he comes to whistles, kissy-noises, big-boy's, buddy's, sugar's, sweet-pea's and hey. Right now, he's staring at me from around the corner. All I can see is a tip of a tail, an ear and baaarely one eye. He thinks he's so sneaky...

It is official now. Thomas will be deployed in the summer. :( So, now there's no way around it. Before, I could at least say, 'We don't know for sure' and 'It's not official yet'. Now we can't say any of those things! But, we can pretend...We haven't really talked about what I'll be doing/where I'll be at when he's gone. (refer back to the pretending it's not going to happen...) I could a) stay here, b) go back to Greenville (sooo very tempting...) or c) go back home to where all the babysitters live. :) OBO! Throw some offers at me! ;)

We're looking forward to all the changes the new year will bring! Don't be strangers!

The Klopfensteins :)