Its been quite a while since I updated the blog. Sure, I could say there were a million reasons why including my progressing pregnancy coupled with trying to entertain a toddler, but that would just be an excuse. Really? I was lazy and quite honestly forgot all about the blog!

So, now I'm back and ready to catch up. As silly as this sounds, not much in the way of new has been going on. When I last posted, V and I had just returned from our trip to Gettysburg for the Angelovich reunion and I was getting over a cold. Since then, really the only things that have happened are J.E.B.'s trip to Okinawa, the start of the fall WTI class on base (which means long, busy days for J.E.B. at work) and V is going to day care for two half-days a week.

I had an incredible amount of Mommy-Guilt (and still do to a point) for sending her to day care when my only job right now is to be Mom. However, 8 hours a week will give her a chance to get some more socialization with kids and adults who aren't Mommy or Dad and give me some time to go to doctor appointments minus a toddler! I have high hopes that after Baby #2 is born, day care will become even more special for her since that will be a time away from the crying intrusion into her life. We'll see how that all turns out.

Speaking of Baby #2, everything is still coming along nicely. We don't know the sex, nor will we until the day of the birth. People repeatedly tell me "Oh wow! I couldn't do that" or "I don't know how you can stand to wait. I sure couldn't" but really, for us it wasn't all that hard. I will admit that initially deciding to wait to find out the sex was tougher for me with this pregnancy, since I wanted to know if I needed to buy boy things or if our girl things in the closet would suffice. However, that urge was nothing more than curiosity and I can keep that curiosity until Thanksgiving. Besides, we still have plenty of neutral newborn things in case it is a boy!

I know people always say that each pregnancy is different just like each person is different, but I never really paid attention to them. I figured, you're still pregnant, how different can it be? Well my friends, let me tell you....they (whoever they are) are correct! Baby #2 has been a fireball from the start compared to the placid, nice pregnancy of Victoria. Currently, Baby #2 is still performing somersaults and back flips in an area that is much, much too small for him. And heartburn is a regular friend of mine, showing up daily between 2-3pm and lasting through the night. Oh what joys! :)  I don't mind being pregnant though. I am not like some women who completely dislike being pregnant. Sure, I would rather not look like a fat cow (or think I look like one) and not have swollen feet, etc, but overall I don't mind the pregnancy thing. That said, I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving when this pregnancy thing is done!

She has discovered that books are good for more than just chewing on...this has become a nightly ritual: sitting in Dad's lap for 1 - 3 stories. (you can see all her cardboard books on the end table next to them)

She likes her books so much in fact, that when its really quiet in the house I can find her here instead of getting into mischief. At least some of the time!

I love the crossed ankles in this one!

V loves to help out Dad during his workouts!

A little loving motivation! She actually gave him about a dozen kisses but the camera was too slow to catch them all!



She loves it when he lays on the floor. He becomes her desk! She had fun looking through the Richard Scarry book I got her

So enough about the babies. In August, J.E.B. went to Okinawa for work and I was super duper jealous! I tried to make a list of things that I would like as a souvenir but really the things I miss the most from our time there is the food and the drinks. Not really into eating sushi after its made a trip across the world in some luggage! However, J.E.B. did come through for me and brought home some of our favorite drinks from when we were in Okinawa. In fact, he stashed so many that he actually purchased a foot locker specifically to hold the cases of Milk Tea, Garden Lemon Tea and Georgia Coffee! He even found some instant Okinawa Soba. I love the real version -- fresh noodles in a delicious broth with chopped green onions, some kind of meat (usually pork I think) and some pink things (I think those are pickled ginger). The soba restaurants are missed as much as the sushi restaurants!!! The instant version turned out not that bad actually. The instructions were all in Japanese, so we had to rely on pictures to tell us what to do which was very reminiscent of 4 years worth of dining out in Japan -- point to a picture on a menu and say, "I want that, please." Sure, it wasn't the same as real Soba but it was pretty close for coming out of a box.