Hey all,


A quick timeline of Things That Happened Recently

July 17th - Brad and I buy our first house.

July 30th - Brad is told that "sometime this year, he's very likely to be sent on another deployment"

August 2nd - I find out that I'm pregnant

September 1st - after a mad rush to organize, pack and finish things like painting and putting down new floors, we finally and officially move into the new home

September 2nd - Brad leaves for pre-deployment training. He's told he'll be sent overseas on January 2nd. They promised to let him have 9 days home around Christmas/New Years.

If anyone wants to contact Brad at this point, e-mail or snail mail would be the best bet. If you have his gmail address, he can read it on his cell phone. Otherwise, e-mail or PM me, and I'll hook you up.

Two words about me: I'm equal parts bummed, angry, hopeful and busy with everyday things. I'm not doing nearly as much as I should to make the house more inviting (pregnancy is a good excuse - most evenings, I'm tired and nauseated, since my "morning sickness" apparently operates on European schedule), but at least right now it's liveable, with the floors floored, the sump pump pumping, and the bedroom walls repainted from puke-green and eye shattering pink to more agreeable blues and turquoises. Our friends have mobilized right away, offering to help with anything from lugging the groceries to letting me stay over their houses should I become bed-ridden for whatever reason (the girl who proposed this has a house so big, I could stay there for months before she and her husband even noticed my presence) Our neighbors are very sweet and supportive. And my parents already told me that they'll fly over from Arizona "as soon as needed". And stay here for as long as it takes to teach me which end to wipe, and which end to feed, and so on!

That was more than two words :-p

Okay, time for this proto-mama to get some sleep... Thanks for reading!

Friends don't let friends take up scrapbooking!

Mowgles congrats and commiss. Thats a lot in a small amount of time... You do realise that parentsd coming aver at a moments notice means never leaving until the child graduates, don't you?

As to home decoration, I'm at a loss. Stick up photos. Lots of photos.

PhD Student: Research information sheet

There once was a man named Bruce
Who liked to sit on a spruce
He ate lots of chowder
And yelled at me louder:
"I'm talking to YOU, Mrs. Hughes!"
--> The Literary Genius: Mowgli

Spiky's first comment was pretty much the same as I was going to say. Except I would have spelled "parentsd coming aver" differently. Maybe it's just Australian spelling. Who knows.

Best of luck to the both of you, and Brad too.

Every fight is a food fight to a cannibal. - Demetri Martin

Wow Mowgli, congratulations, hugs, and some advice for easy home decorating:

Rasterbate your photos!

The Sect of Homokaasu - The Rasterbator

You can take any photo, pixellate it, and print it out on many many pieces of paper and have giant pictures on the walls. Cheap, easy, and effective.

I have a giant picture of my head covering one door....and plan on almost wallpapering my apartment with photos of friends....hope it helps!

-=Happiness is a journey, not a destination=-
Gypsy Travels | Gypsy Photos | Gypsy Space

Well congratulations on the baby, first thing, it is an exciting time that you think will never end but it does, sooner then you'll believe looking back. I would wish Brad could be there for more of it, but keeping some kind of journal and sharing each day somehow might help. It seems more possible then ever to keep in touch, but I know it just isn't the same, I just hope things work out and Brad can be home when you need him most.
One decorating trick I've heard of is to find some fabric that has colors you like, including a couple of the colors in the room already, maybe make curtains or pillows out of it and use that as a guide to accessory colors, and really, less is often more, eventually you'll get more then enough stuff. I like to use candles to provide some color, they aren't too expensive and if you get scented candles you can have a two for one effect.

() ()
( ' ,') "don't eat green potatoes"
(> >) Last words of Mrs. Bertha Sperling
@( )_ )_

Good luck with everything.

Dragon's Kingdom - Stop typing "alot" when you mean "a lot"! - Disappointed

Well, that's a lot of and in a small amount of time.
On the I already congratulated. I was a bit shocked to read of the deployment notice, at this of all times. Any idea how longhe'll be gone, and where exactly he'll be going?

I'm available for pregnancy discussions, baby discussions and decoration discussions, seeing your morning sickness is working a European schedule already, maybe it's a trend and the baby will too...

Congratulations on the house and baby front, although the deployment is a bit of a bummer. No suggestions on the decorating side although in three or four years you'll appreciate something plain that's easy to wipe clean; especially when little hands find crayons.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, just like grandpa. Not screaming and panicking like his passengers.
Don't drink and drive from The Lancre Tavern

Exactly what Joc and the others said...

Although on the whole paint front, I'd change that to 'wipeable the moment they are aware enough to fling food. And get a decent apron/smock that's washable...trust me. And don't wear white when feeding them whatever gloop is on the menu.

Congratulatons on the new house and baby front. Get a list of things you want to do and practice saying yes when people offer help!

Congrats on the baby, Inna.

Cat Clash

Congratulations, Inna. As for Brad, I'll wait until he has something resembling a stable connection - or until he learns from trained professionals such as myself, and begins to use his mobile phone as something resembling a PDA. Ebuddy has a rather nice Java app for mobile phones these days, not just Gmail.

Anticipate charity by preventing poverty. - Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon

What is there left to say? Oh well, to hell with originality: congrats on the little critter, Mowgli, and well, like Hsing, I would have thought that if anything would be a good excuse for not deploying someone having an expectant lady at home would be one but hey, what can you do? Good luck to both of you!

Damn Spider pig

Hah, I misread that.

I thought it said "rasterbale". Oh, how foolish I feel now. Egg on my face indeed!

Hope everything goes well for you though! I feel that in my old age my attitude to babies is mellowing. I suppose it comes from people I know actually being pregnant, and popping them out. Makes them seem more real, rather than annoying things you see in shops, and on planes and things.

Still, I do not want one anytime soon. I hope ella, reading over my shoulder making sure I don't type anything she doesn't approve of, takes note!

Why are pirates called pirates?

Hey all, I do have a small connection... however limited. Nate, I'm back in your area of famtabulous Mississippi, and I'm prepping to redeploy to Iraq. Thanks for all of your well wishes, I'm very excited about our first child. I hope to drop you all another line soon. Take care.

-Brad