Aloha!!

and I am so proud of him! They landed in Hawaii at about 12:00 a.m. our time, 8:00 p.m. Hawaii time. What a great sense of accomplishment he must be feeling right now!!

East Coast, West Coast, Hawaii!

He made it to Maine! Now they are in route to Seattle then Hawaii! It is amazing how you learn to appreciate the little things, like just how lucky we feel to have mobile to mobile again since he is now in the U.S. He will be in Hawaii by tonight!

Almost Home

The last time I talked to Jeremy he was in Kuwait, if I figured right they have been in the air for about 4 hours now headed to somewhere in Europe. From there I think they may have one stop in the U.S. before making it to Hawaii. They have had so many delays and I know hes very ready to get there. Here is the link to their website where you can track when their welcome home ceremony is. He is in Chalk 11, and they haven't updated it with new times. I got an email saying they were delayed and the times were wrong. As soon as more info was available they will update. The ceremony is usually about 2 hours after they arrive on the island.

http://www.25idl.army.mil/

35 Weeks and Seriously, Jeremy needs to hurry!

I know ya'll don't even have to say it....

I've had so many people tell me they don't think I'll make it to my due date. The doctor even told me we were going to have a big boy! I promise you, I haven't pigged out or anything. I really eat lots of salads and drink lots of water.I have seen pregnant women eat so much worse than I do! I guess I'm just meant to have a big baby. I weighed 9lbs and 13 oz when I was born so I guess it is just genetic who knows. We have had lots of birthday cake here lately but still!

So I never updated on my Dr. appointment the other day. She measured my belly and her eyes got huge! Apparently I went from average growth rate to above average. I grew 4 inches in 2 weeks. I was measuring at the 38 week mark :( which is 38 inches (not around it's way more than that of course, but 38 inches up and down). I know I have grown a lot, but she really confirmed it. Then she felt around my tummy and said he was still head down and pretty low, and again a good sized baby. At this point, if Jeremy would just get here I'm ready for this to be over with.

My friends at Mazzio's got together and had a shower for me tonight. We had fun and it was good to catch up with everyone. I am so thankful to have them!

Ashley getting into the baby bottle game

Mom too!

Brian was working anyway, so he got to hang out some

Chris, the manager at Mazzio's and a great long time friend!

Well, I still haven't heard from Jeremy but I am so hopeful that he is in the air headed back to Hawaii. There is really no telling where he is right now. I was expecting a call from Baghdad, but hopefully he didn't have time to call from there and he is already past that point.

Last night we were in Clarksville for Brian's gig, and I think my road tripping days are finished until after Jackson gets here. He did great and we had fun, but the riding and sitting really gets to me.

Sand Storm

As usual, plans have changed. Jeremy's homecoming ceremony in Hawaii won't be until
25 FEB 09, CEREMONY 0245(2:45 A.M.)as of now. They have been in line to fly out for over a day now, but a sand storm came through! He is supposed to call me from Baghdad if he can.

After almost 15 months I can finally say

Jeremy's HOMECOMING CEREMONY is 23 FEB, CEREMONY 1915 (07:15 P.M.)

I hate that I can't be there to welcome him off the plane, but how exciting is this news?! Here is the banner that is waiting on them.

If you click on it, you can see it larger.

Welcome home Jeremy, your life is ready and waiting on you!

Happy 70th Birthday Grandpa!

We are definitely right in the middle of what we call "birthday row"around here. It starts with Christmas, followed by my birthday then Kareem's was on February 10th. We went to Samurai and then the usual cake afterwards. Today we celebrated grandpa's birthday at their house. We were going to go to Oaklawn but the horses don't run on Wednesday, so we are re-scheduling for March. March 7th is Grandma's birthday then March 9th is Brians. So we have lots of birthdays right here in the first of the year. Jackson will fit right in line since his due date is March 31st.

As usual, Chloe had to be a part of the celebrating, but she wears out before anyone else. She was sound asleep here.

Here are my Valentine Flowers from Jeremy :)

As promised, here are the pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Some of my family getting down to Brian's music at the VFW. Talk about an interesting night!

I just love this picture of Rosie and Papaw. So sweet!

Shower pictures!!

Brandt (Brooke's little baby) was a big hit at the shower! Here he is with mom.

Awesome servers and friends! Ashley, Brooke, and Jana

Gotta have a cookie cake

So pretty! And Good!


Me with the hostesses, they did a great job! THANK YOU! Ashley and Jana
Thanks to everyone for all the great gifts!
Another friend named Brooke, me, and Mindy. Tri Delta pledge sisters minus Autumn because she was in Maui.

Sign in table
We were so tired when we got back home, but had a car load to unload!
Jackson's balloons after the shower
Okay, so I am caught up on everything now I think! I'm sorry Trena! I know I should be ashamed for not updating as much and getting behind! :)

Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment and I have to go by Gwatney since they have to fix something on the Tahoe. The door sensor is messed up and it is getting really annoying having to mess with the locks. Then after that I have to go in to work. Long day ahead!

He's Coming Home!

Well needless to say I am very excited! Jeremy is coming home soon! He leaves Iraq in less than a week, we are finally at that point. We have been looking forward to this since way before he even left and I can't believe it is finally here! Over 14 months ago he deployed. Boxes are coming in that he told me he would be sending home at the very last minute (now what in the world do I do with them? They are huge and full of army stuff and everything I have sent him since he has been there!) For so long now, we have been planning around deployment and knowing that we had a huge hurdle to make it past before we could really breathe again and just be happy together. Of course we have another life changing event on the way but this is a fun one. Anyway, he gets on an airplane this week and I couldn't be any more excited.

My favorite part of the island, very close to our wedding site!

Originally we were finished with Hawaii but as usual plans have changed. We know Jeremy will be there until August or September, so as soon as the baby is born here in Arkansas and Jeremy's block leave is up, we are all 3 hopping on a plane and heading to Hawaii for the summer. Next week when Jeremy gets to Hawaii he is finding us a place to live and getting us a car. He will fly home to Arkansas around this time next month and he gets 30 days of vacation here. Probably around April 20th we will all be heading to Hawaii and we will already have a place to live and a car to drive because he is taking care of all that before he comes home. I think we have it figured out. I am so ready for us to be together but I hate leaving my family and friends. Hawaii has a weird rule on dogs too. They have to be quarantined for 30-90 days before they are allowed on the island and I just can't do that to my babies. So my family is going to take care of them for me over the summer....sounds familiar! Very much like 2007! Anyway April will be very bittersweet for us and our family. I wonder if anyone thinks I'm crazy for getting on an 8 hour flight with a 2-3 week old? At least Jeremy will be there to help me.

Something tells me that we won't be too alone out there on Oahu. Considering my mom made 2 trips out there to see us and so did my grandma within 5 months! Not to mention Dad, Grandpa, Brian, Ashley, Kareem, Aunt Rachel, Lynn, Mick, Justin, Sam, Becca, Kyla, and Shari! This was all before there was a new baby involved, so I'm thinking we will have visitors this time too, which is great! I tend to have my moments where I get really homesick.

I still have lots of pics to post but I just had to update really fast since we are at the less than a week mark. Between working and everything I have been so busy, but I'm trying to keep everyone informed! I'm headed to the doctor now and then work again.

Just wondering about my ankles

Well, Jackson had a great baby shower last Sunday! Thank you so much everyone! I didn't have my camera so I am still waiting on pictures from Mom, Grandma and Jana. It was great though and I am very thankful. I will do a big post with pictures and stuff when I get them all. I have some good VFW pictures too that I'll put on here.

I am officially puffy and I don't think that is going to change for at least 7 weeks. My poor, poor ankles. They are ridiculous! I hope the weather stays as warm as possible because I can only fit into flip flops since Saturday. I am wondering how bad the swelling can get and when to call the doctor...I'm pretty sure it is normal though. To post a picture or not, hmmmm.

Jackson continues to wow me with his strong movements. You can see him moving from the outside now.

I wanted to update since I haven't updated in awhile! Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Woohoo. I can't believe Jeremy had been in Iraq for over 2 months this time last year. Next year we will finally get a Valentine's Day together in the same country I hope. Great news is that he leaves Iraq in 9 days! We are so excited and I know he will be happy to see some palm trees and normal clothes. I'm working a lot here lately, but I will be posting again soon!

32 Weeks

From the front, not as obvious

From the SIDE, good grief


I'm starting to wonder how much more my stomach can stretch and I'm getting worried! 8 more weeks of growing? Scary!

You can see the dark shadow on my pictures still from the lens being messed up, I am trying to learn how to use the new camera dad got me but it takes lots of practice and studying.

Jeremy leaves Iraq in 3 weeks!