At Home In Mitford

Anytime that I don't blog for a month at a time or so, chances are, I'm buried in a good book.

The current culprit is a series I've been working through called the Mitford Chronicles, by Jan Karon. At face value, they don't really jump out and grab you, but they're so full of good stuff.

First off, I grew up in Suburbia City, so, as these books are all about a fictitious little country town called Mitford, they intrigue me. Then the author has this way of writing all the stories around these very common characters leading ordinary lives with extraordinary results.

As I read, I also find my faith being built up and encouraged, and, although I've never lived in a tiny town myself, I find myself completely engrossed, "living in Mitford", if you will.

What I've written so far probably will not spur anyone on to check them out themselves, but it's very difficult to properly describe books like these. They apparently are very popular though, because most or all of them have made it to #1 New York Times Best Sellers. Anyway, if you feel like picking up a good read, consider these.

Army life

Some of you may know that Greg was supposed to get out of the Army last May. He got stop-lossed (his guys got deployed, so when that happens in a war-time situation, everyone has to stay in the same job they were currently in, even if they were just about to get out, or relocate to another post). When he was planning on getting out, he did a lot of interviewing with different companies, trying to get a good job in the Binghamton area so that we could move closer to the place we consider "home", and be more of a local presence and support in our church. There really wasn't much out there though in the salary range we were looking for, and on top of that, the more Greg thought about settling into a civilian job, the less attractive it seemed.

All his life, Greg's wanted to be in Special Forces (SF), but since it requires lots of training and tons of deployments, he dismissed the idea when he decided to marry me and start a family. I always knew that it had been his dream though, so at different times when he sounded wistful about his choice, I've reminded him that if he ever wanted to do it, I'd be completely behind him. It's more important to me that he has a job that fulfills his sense of purpose and keeps him interested than that I get to live near my family.

A few months ago, Greg told me that he's been seriously thinking of going SF and staying in the military to finish out the last 15 years of his career....and then a few weeks ago decided that was what we were going to do.

The way it looks right now, we'll go to Georgia for training possibly in September for 6 months, then from there it all depends on what happens next. We could end up anywhere. All in all, it's hard, but we're both completely at peace with the decision, and it seems to be the best thing. As things continue to transpire in our near future, I'll be sure to give the updates.

Baby

Baby
Originally uploaded by faithdarling.

These are the actual footprints of a 20 week old baby -- just one week younger than our baby is right now.

Eating Playdough

Once a month I host a Stay At Home Moms Meetup group at our house (sahm.meetup.com). This time I made some edible peanut butter play dough for the little people (a recipe I found online of peanut butter, honey and enough powdered milk to make it a dough), and it was a big hit. Andrew soon discovered the joys of eating little bits of it as he was smushing it around, and today we discovered yet another use for it. Greg has been down with the flu, so I've had to be extra creative with Andrew or else we end up watching an endless parade of The Donut Man. So today I got out the clay and once Andrew got a little bored with it, I pulled out a bag of Cheerios. He is currently consumed with finding all the Cheerios I pressed into the lump, pressing in more himself, eating them, etc. He's been fascinated by this little game for about half-an-hour now, so I feel like a genius.

Hunger Strikes

I have never been so hungry in all my life. Well scratch that, I suppose I have been this hungry, but it was when I was pregnant with and then nursing Andrew. If my stomach wasn't being so smushed up into my lungs, I'd be eating as much in one sitting as Greg does. And I haven't gained a pound yet! Actually, I lost 6 pounds or so first off, and I've just now gained them back. It makes me feel like I'm just chewing things all day, but not actually processing anything. AGGGHHH!

Every day now I can feel the baby move. Right on schedule, the motions are getting stronger and more pronounced. It can hear now! An interesting thought. When I was pregnant with Andrew, I was a little wierded out by that at first, but then I realized that it's not like having a regular person shadowing you all the day long, but....well I suppose I don't really need to explaine. Anyway, that's the news, folks. See ya.

Terminal

Last night, Greg and I watched the movie "Terminal", starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones and directed by Stephen Spielburg. It was way better than I expected. From the synopsis on the back of the jacket, it didin't seem to be like much of a story, but it was very funny, touching, and alltogether a really good story, acted out by great actors.

Usually I shy away from movie reccomendations, since different people are sensitive to different stuff, but I think this one would largely appeal to a broad audience.

Dangerous Cold

This morning Andrew and I had plans to walk down the street (1-1/2 blocks away) to the Scrapbook Nook, a little scrapbooking botique, to get some supplies so that I could work on some Christmas presents. Our plans are no longer though, as I found that it is -19 degrees outside. OHMYGOSH! I forgot how cold it gets up here. As I sit by the computer, which is facing a large window, I can feel the frigid air seeping in, making me shiver even in my sweatpants and hoodie. Craziness, I tell you! Greg only has a half day today though, so I'll be able to drive there around lunchtime.

All about Tiny

In the past two weeks I've started to feel the baby move. At first I wasn't sure, but now there's been times when it's unmistakable. The baby is about 5 inches sitting height (the way they measure them until they're born), and getting stronger and more active all the time, so I know I'll be feeling more than I want pretty soon!

Up until now, it's been very difficult for me to connect emotionally with this baby. I felt bad about it at first, because I was attached to Andrew right away within the first week of discovering that I was pregnant. When I talked to my mom about it, she pointed out that at this point the baby is only making my life more difficult, and I already have Andrew to pour all my attention and love into. She assured me that in time, everything would work out.

Today was the first day that I felt real love for this baby. That sounds terrible, but the only way I can explain is that before now, I've simply felt nothing towards it personally. It's just been a pregnancy, and even that I've hardly been able to really believe, so it's not been all that real to me on any level. Today though, I was sitting in the car while Greg was doing some Christmas shopping. Andrew was sleeping in the back and I was reading a book. Suddenly I felt the baby flip around, and at that moment I felt this pulse of love for the little person.

I can hardly recapture the feeling even now as I write this, but I know that I felt it, and I know that the feeling will grow as the baby does, and soon I will be just as full of love for this person as I am for Andrew.

Oh Wow

Hey everyone! My appologies to everyone for not keeping in touch a little better (for those of you who actually check this blog regularly). Although I have to say, I don't know anyone else who shares their lives as often as we do. But that's another topic for another day.

Our big news: we have a new addition to our family! The little person will be making their apperance sometime around mid-June. Just to clear things up: we will not find out the gender beforehand, so you just have to wait. Also, we will decide on names, but will not tell you until the person is born. So once again, you'll just have to wait. Interestingly enough, the "just have to wait" idea has now become a trend among celebrities, and I think it's because of our bright and shining example. The element of suprise is back in style!

For a few months, Greg and I had ben considering the idea of adding someone to the family. We happen to like Andrew quite a bit, and also, he's just so damn cute. So at some point, I finally came to the point where I said, yes, I think we should start "trying" soon.

I went to the doctor for an unrelated thing (my arms have been itchy all summer -- sun allergies or something!! [?]). While there, I just told him any symptom I could think of that I had, and he decided to run a series of tests just to rule things out. Army doctors are funded like crazy, and we don't have to pay them anything, so they like to just do all kinds of stuff if you let them. One of these tests was a pregancy test.

After my visit, I told Greg about the various tests, and we went on with our day. The next morning I woke up to a message on my cell phone "Mrs. Darling, the reason you have these symptoms is because you are pregnant." I couldn't believe it, so I had to listen to the message a bunch of times (5 times actually, I counted) before I would call Greg. OHMYGOSH! So as it turns out, while I was considering getting pregnant in the near future, I already was! I called the doctor just to hear it "live" he confirmed it, probably while making "koo-koo" signs to the nearby nurses ("These crazy pregnant people!")

So that's that! As of this week's Thursday I will be 15 weeks pregnant.

Click here to see an ultrasound of a 14 week baby

Roselle Family 2004

familypic
Originally uploaded by faithdarling.

This picture was taken just after Thanksgiving. A whole lot of anguish to set up, but worth it in the end. From the looks on our faces, you'd never know! =)