Suffolk, VA

We were in Suffolk, VA from February 20th to March 3rd on another TDY (temporary assignment).  This TDY was a little more pleasant than Florida for a few reasons.  First, I didn't have morning sickness.  Second, we had a kitchen in our hotel room.  Third, my friend Shera brought her dog along so I got to take her out on walks around a nearby lake.  The dog's name is Fancy; how cute is that? 

Shera and I had fun walking her around and chatting while Paul was at work.  There were some amazing houses/neighborhoods to gawk at!  When I'm a multimillionaire I might go back to Suffolk to find a house. 

Paul got stuck with a 1 pm to 1 am shift and it took me almost to the last day to be able to still be awake when he got home.  I don't think work was too bad though . . . he had enough free time to reread The Hunger Games.

Overall, we had a good time in Suffolk.  We met up for lunch a few times and went out to the movies.  I went maternity shopping but didn't buy anything.  (Although I really need to . . . now I'm using a rubber band to give my jeans a little more room.)  Still, I think the best place to be is home.  And we have 5 more weeks here before we leave for another TDY!

Killer III

We finally went camping again after an almost two-year hiatus!  I think the last time we went was the summer of 2010 when we went with Tyler to Zion's National Park . . . if you don't count the time we set the tent up in the backyard.

This time we went to Poinsett State Park, just a 30 minute drive from our house.  We went mountain biking there in the fall and thought it was gorgeous.  And last weekend we went there for a little hike and freaked ourselves out by imagining menacing alligators around every corner (for the full story check out Paul's dream blog).  Now we've probably done everything there is to do at this particular state park.

Camping was a great time, like it always is.  We gathered wood and built a killer fire to roast our hot dogs and JUMBO mallows.  JUMBO mallows are delicious but require a little different roasting technique since they're so huge.  I think we got the hang of it though.

After the cold, cold night we packed up our gear and drove to the nearby Manchester State Forest to do some mountain biking.  We rode a 10 mile trail named "Killer III" and boy was it killer.  After a few miles of riding we ran into this creepy guy who looks like he might actually kill you.

Creepy right?  I was pretty weirded out by him until later we ran into this guy:

And then this guy:

And then this shivering kid with goggles on his head:

And on and on it went . . .

I didn't realize how many creepy statues there would be on the trail!  My favorite is probably the purple alien at Ridge Ride, with Indian Mound, Watermelon Field, and Twistys following close behind.  It was nice to have some "company" and especially nice to have reasons to rest!

We had so much fun.  Mountain biking is hard and exhausting but worth it when you have a great riding buddy and a beautiful day to enjoy!

Baby News

Well, since I posted it on Facebook I guess it has been officially announced: I'm pregnant!  There's a baby in the oven!  Alert!  Alert!

I am 16 weeks now, due on August 16th.  And for those of you who want TMI on how I'm feeling, read on!

Morning sickness was a big fat bother until about week 14, and since it's over let's just forget about it.

Now that the nausea/vomiting has subsided and I'm into trimester 2 my only complaints are that I have to go to the bathroom all the time (all the time, people) and that my arms fall completely asleep (completely) when I sleep on my back.  Also, I have fiery heartburn.  And I feel like I'm hungry all the time, but that's not really a complaint, eating is fun.  Other than all that I feel awesome.  There's a baby in me.  It's weird.  and exciting.

My bump isn't quite a bump yet.  I can tell it's there and my jeans can tell it's there but I'm sure no one else can tell if I don't want them to.  So no "bump" pictures yet.  I'm actually still at my pre-pregnancy weight because of the morning sickness.

At about week 7 we got an ultrasound and got to see the tiny speck that was the baby.  That was when I finally understood why people like to post their ultrasound pictures online for everyone to see.  To anyone else it's just another weird, black and white baby profile, but to the parents it's a weird, black and white baby profile of their baby.  So yeah, I sent that picture of my speck baby to its grandparents ASAP.

The internet says the baby is an avocado now.  or a starfruit.  and I'm thinking we should pick a name out of all the fruits it becomes when it's growing.  I personally like Prune for a boy and Rutabaga for a girl.  Or maybe the other way around?

Yes, we are going to find out the baby's gender around 20 weeks.  I'm not sure what I think it is though.  At first I thought it might be a girl, then Paul convinced me it was going to be a boy, but now I'm back to thinking it's a girl.  But it doesn't really matter to me.  What do you think?

If we didn't find out the gender I don't think the baby would have a name for months.  We're having a tough time coming up with names we actually like.  Mostly we just come up with names we know we won't use and laugh about how funny it would be to use them.  Top picks include Champion, Thor, Boonter, Zarblat, Leonard, and Sheldon.  If you have any suggestions (real or funny) we'd be happy to hear!

And, well, that's that.  The alert has been sounded!