Friday, May 29, 2009

Missing my girl!

Well, I guess the test came out positive! Melanie that is an awesome picture! I can't believe I am missing out on the everyday lives of my children and grandchild. Mom cries miserably in the corner feeling much pity for herself.
Things around here are ramping up for Andrew's Graduation on the 3rd of June, with a family bar-be-que on the 6th. I am almost finished with Ferynne's crib set and it is looking pretty cool. Melanie has quite the eye for colors going together, but then she is an artist at heart. After the graduation festivities I am hoping to get it done.
I have looked at the pictures Melanie posted and it is good to see their happy faces (I am glad that in the midst of the chaos of the Army you two are together--it makes it possible to face whatever may come your way). That is all for now, just wanted everyone to know that I am still here. I will post more after graduation, maybe with some pic's.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009










So life has gotten back to normal pretty well here. Got things straightened and fixed for the most part. Derek's buddy, Carlos, left to go on leave(he will be going to Italy as well) and sold us his car for a deal. It's a relief having a form of transportation again! Lets just hope this car makes it okay through the time we have left here. It's an okay car and runs fine, but if your looking for reliability this car has warning signs of its future death written all over it, lol.

We get up bright and early each morning and drive to base for Derek's 6am formation and every day is filled with different things to do. We've started taking some pictures of our "life" here and I'll be posting some in our web album today for any who want to see. Derek and I have been catching up on our knitting together and he is just about done with Ferynne's baby blanket!(will be sure to post a picture of that as well!) As for me, i'm happy with the scarf-making safe zone for now... and somehow I manage to still mess things up.

That's all, not much to say. Just thought it was about time for a belly picture!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

and then there was the Army...

And the Army, though great and mighty, begot many screws and many balls that they could not keep. So they dropped some of their balls and "inserted here" many screws... resulting in many screwed persons and many injured plans.



*Begins to translate as the poor exhausted soldier rests from his day of stress and fear*



Oi mama. Plans have been changed. We did not need a visa for Germany but now we need one for Italy. There is not enough time to get one now. So after a bunch of this: (#$*&(%*&#$)%(@*#&$@(*$&#($*@($^&^!@*&#!@#!*&!!@(*#&(@*#(!&#$$#)%#*&!@#@#Y$I#@UHRKJHFI#U$YN#IWENIWRYI#$UYN@#UNYUFNOINU#O$IU@#$NO
RWRWERIWUENRI@#M#RPO#NROIEWRNUEWORUWOIRU#$(@*&$()@$&@#(*$

New Plans:

Orders deferred until July 20th for the sake of me being able to actually GO WITH Derek to Italy instead of being left behind.

What this means:

We are NOT leaving to fly home to Oregon tomorrow. Completely canceled flights day before departure! Good thing I was slacking in the packing department. We are having to stay here another month and a half! I don't want to be friends with the cockroaches for that much longer!!! I want to go home! I want to breath beautiful Oregon air and soak in the beautiful Oregon weather! Oh fairest of fair! No southerners, no roaches, no North Carolina! Sweet, wonderful Salem! It calls to us both! But instead I get to bug bomb on Thursday and dink around Fayettenam longer(SO BORRRRING). Thank you ARMY!
On top of that...heavens! I will be too pregnant to fly without a doctors slip. Not that a doctors note will keep me any safer on that plane while ALMOST 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. GUH. Scary stuff. Thank you ARMY!


Anywho. Sorry to be so brief. There is just no possible way to explain everything that lead up to this. Simple as this: Visa.

Oh yeah, there are many great little notes such as: We've already shipped our bikes back to Oregon, thus having no form of transportation. (just a sample)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Brooks pregnancy update





So this baby is all ready showing me who is boss.  I don't have morning sickness as bad as Melanie, but it's still pretty intense.  And the tiredness and shortness of breath!  Doesn't make work any easier.  I mostly get stuck on register.  I suppose I should get used to it since I'm sure that's where I'll be for the next 6 months!  I get tired of yelling at(well, not really yelling...more like lecturing) customers at the drive through window  to put out their cigarettes.  When they get mouthy about how it's their choice if they want to get a ticket for it or not, I have to very kindly, but sternly inform them that not only is it the law now, but that I am also pregnant and for the sake of the health of my baby, they really do need to put it out.  So far that's all I've had to say, but I just know that one of these days that reason will not be enough for someone and then I will very politely explain that I do have the right to refuse service to anyone, so if they cannot abide by the law, I will have to close the window on them.  Maybe not those words exactly, but something to that effect.

I've had my first ultrasound and with it have discovered a few new things about my baby.  One, that he or she is an unusually active child.  The nurse couldn't measure the heart at first because the kid wouldn't keep still!  She said it was very unusual for it to be so active so early on (I mean the kid just recently developed it's individual fingers and toes for goodness sake!).  So, Bo and I are definitely in for it in that respect.  Two, the kid is due on my birthday!  Nov. 23rd!  I figure it's my mom's revenge for her missing Thanksgiving dinner with me.  ;-P  Course, I'm planning on a home birth (unless complications arise), so I will hopefully still get some turkey and gravy!

One thing that we will definitely need prayer for is my rare blood type.  Apparently, I am A-.  Not many people are negative.  And in a woman this is very much an issue.  As Bo is A+, this could cause issues with future children.  My negative blood doesn't like positive blood.  If the baby has positive blood, and our blood mixes (not usually until birth), then my body will develop antibodies against positive blood.  So, while this baby isn't at risk, if I have positive babies in the future, my body will reject their blood and they will either die before birth or have severe issues after.  What they will do is after I give birth to this baby, they will test the baby's blood and if it's positive I will get a Rohgam shot which will hopefully trick my body into thinking it all ready created the antibodies.  I have 72 hours after birth to do this.   It is normally effective, but I could be in the small 3% of women that it doesn't work in.  On top of that, for every positive baby I have, I will need to get this shot after the birth.  So it's a little scary.
Well, that's that.  Pretty uneventful otherwise.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Updates, Fayettenam, and Germany(Italy)... Oh my!




And that's what Melanie has to say about her adventures so far in the far Easterly South! An exciting adventure of two souls, filled with the old Nordic wanderlust leading them around the globe (and perhaps influenced a tad by the whims of the big army thrusting them about as the winds blow.) And so, the past few weeks have been filled with such glorious adventures as trying to find apartments near the base that would give short leases (since we would be getting orders to go elsewhere soon), finding out when exactly to fly Melanie out here, moving her in, trying to buy a car, scheduling to by a car, cancelling the scheduling to buy a car because we ended up getting order to Germany, dealing with stupid banks that bear the flag of the Credit Union, when in fact they are totalitarian terrorists hellbent on controlling every dime of money you give them, clearing Melanie so that she could come to Germany with me, and now the wait so that I can out-process from here and we can leave the country. Oish. Oh, and of course Melanie being pregnant every second of every day (and night!) and all the hilarity, joy, and long nights that causes us, haha.

But yes, for those of you who had not heard yet, I was informed that I was being assigned to an airborne unit in Bamberg, Germany (about 150 miles North Westish of München) and we'll be heading there the beginning of June. Do not fret, though, we're planning on taking leave so that we can return to our homeland to visit with the family and snag the remainder of our belongings before hopping the big pond. More updates on dates and such to come as we find out ourselves.

Once all the issues of officiality, arrangements, and scheduling are done though, our lives could not be happier at the moment! Melanie has enjoyed the spite of many a North Carolinan driver, much to her befuddlement, and little Ferynne kicks more and more every day. It felt like home the moment she arrived. (The both of them, that is, hehe.) We apologise for not necessarily communicating with many of you, as there has been much running to and fro and during the week our time during the day is precious (and time during the night reserved for as much sleep as possible!) and the weekends, well, the weekends are ours. So =P

Anyways, we love you all, hope to see you soon, and hopefully will be posting much more often now!

-Derek


****

So it seems I am to update you all on this mornings recent news. In our long wait to get Derek's "official" orders, they have decided to change his orders to Italy! We knew some people were being sent to Italy instead, but when we checked his AKO it still said "Germany" in the document. Apparently, this morning one of the other married guys in Derek's platoon came up to him and asked if he had been changed because his orders changed just YESTERDAY. So of course when Derek checks his AKO again this morning it had been changed as well!

And so the process of waiting for THOSE orders starts all over again...*hums a little tune about the army*



Anyways. that is what is happening with us. Not that you ragamuffins deserved to hear it! Not that I know ANYTHING about YOUR lives from your amazing POSTING HABITS. Hah! *huffs off*


-Melanie