We're Going to have a Daughter

And here she is making her first blog appearance!

We're very very excited that we're going to be adding some pink to this very blue family! The ultrasound tech said everything appears fine and she's tracking the due date the same as first estimated March 23!

~Till They All Come Home~

Reunion of Korbin and His Dog

Korbin never listens!! I see many posts starting out that way in the future...

We went to the Rams vs. Saints game in St Louis on Sunday. Afterward we stopped in Sullivan, MO for dinner and we took a side trip into their local Wal-Mart for some much needed items. Korbin and Tayton were both told to leave their puppies in the car. Neither one listened. Tayton carries his puppy everywhere because it's weighted and helps him feel more secure (instead of weighted belts and vests). Tayton never puts puppy down so him losing him isn't much of a concern.

Korbin however goes in spurts of wanting to bring Little Memphis places with him. He disregarded our warning and brought little Memphis into the store. Brandy and I took off to the craft section to find some material for her to make a baby wrap like the one I made and tested out on my 8 year old. It's great, he simply loved it!

Anyhow, once we got home Korbin couldn't find Little Memphis. I called Wal-Mart in Sullivan (an hour away) and they had found him. I asked if they would ship him to us and that I'd pay for it and they said sure, took down my address and never asked for payment. I was a bit worried it wasn't going to arrive but today we got a package:

~Till They All Come Home~

Korbin Plans Ahead

We had this discussion in the car yesterday...

Korbin: I'm going to have four kids. Two girls and two boys.

Me: Which do you want to have first?

Korbin: The girls because they're cuter!

Me: Why do you want us to have a girl?

Korbin: Because girls are sooooooo cute!

Korbin: Or probably I'll just have two kids. One boy and one girl.

Tayton: Why not four? Then you can have a bigger house.

Korbin: Just two.

Tayton: Or are four too expensive? What are you a cheap freak?

~Till They All Come Home~

An Explanation

I posted from my phone to let anyone interested know that Janes ultrasound was cancelled. Her doctor was home sick the day of the appointment and while her appointment was at the hospital so she should have been able to have her ultrasound. She had told the nurse that her daughters were sick with the flu, possibly H1N1, and with the possibility that she could be infected they weren't able to let her have the ultrasound.

It has been rescheduled for the 19th. The doctor called her this morning and decided that even though she isn't feeling too bad now, he wanted her on Tamiflu anyway because of the risks for her with H1N1. She'll be taking it until the 19th as of now and possibly for another week after.

It worries me. I hate that I can't be at the ultrasound. I'm sad. The good news is that we got to see family and we got to see Jane a couple times and she seems to be doing well. She's showing now and we're hoping the rest of the pregnancy goes good and that this will pass.

The boys are happy to be home, Kirke's happy we're home. I'm happy to be home. Only I'm not feeling overly happy for some reason. I guess it's just leaving so much undone at home.

Keep thinking pink... Blue's nice too.

~Till They All Come Home~

The ultrasound was rescheduled so we're heading back to MO with no clue about the gender of the baby. I'm very very disappointed...

Adoption Update

The birth mom, birth dad and I met with a local attorney today. The first one we met with said it would cost their minimum fee of $4500 and would be a simple process. Today's attorney said it would be a simple process and therefore cost us only a fraction of the price.

Today's meeting was very reassuring. I need this boost of confidence. The birth parents are very secure in their decision to allow us to adopt the baby. The attorney and I had a chance to chat a little after the birth parents went out to the car because I was waiting on a text from Kirke with some information. She was very helpful and seemed to be looking forward to helping us with this process.

I'm very excited and Monday is our ultrasound!! Think pink!! And if it's blue then think healthy!!!

~Till They All Come Home~

Best Friends Shouldn't Be Separated

We love our Army life most of the time. We love that we get to move around and meet new people. We develop very fast friendships that become our families.

Over the past two years we've been lucky enough to meet some of the very best friends we could imagine. Tayton and Cadie had a slow go at their friendship because they are both pretty shy. And Tayton isn't one bit into girly stuff. Lucky for him Cadie doesn't care much for pink pretty girly things most of the time either. She's never asked him to play barbies and he respected her for that. In first grade they were seated together and he relied greatly on her being there to help him through his days. She took care of him and made him feel safe at times that he might have otherwise melted down. They spend afternoons and weekends together hanging out and learning about Pokemon and riding bikes. Their bond is amazing. We've promised to make sure they can make it to prom together! As they said goodbye today Tayton hugged Cadie a million times, requested that I take a picture of him and Cadie together a few times. He's an amazing kid and she was a fantastic part of his emotional development the past two years. As they left he stood on my van waving until they were out of sight. He then said "I'm pretty sure this is going to be a rough day for me." I held him for the next 20 or so minutes. It's too hard to say goodbye sometimes.

Cassidy has gone from being a creepy little slobbery, girly, smelly baby to just another part of the group. The boys were thrilled with this change. Korbin has taken to including Cassidy in his fun in the recent months. He was very "big brotherish" with her and that means lots of fighting, bossing and a little bit of fun! It was a sweet transition for the kids to see a child go from a one year old to a 3 1/2 year old.

Christian came on the scene quiet and reserved. Brandy I were certain he hated us. We still wonder. Then we realized he does think we're funny and is as much a smarty pants as us!He proved to be much more fun to be around since we weren't scared he secretly wished we'd choke on our drinks. We're really gonna miss his quiet snickering in the corner while we're being stupid. And his witty answers in the game of Things.

And then there's Vicki. Amber's mom who lives with them. She's fantastic. She thinks that I'm funny and that makes me happy. She's fun and crazy and she just kinda "gets us" which is hard to find in our "parental" types.

Last but not least we have Amber. Amber was brought into this madness by Brandy. She was thrown full force into our group, probably somewhat involuntarily, as the deployment planning started taking shape. We convinced her to move on post into our friend Summer's old house cause we're cool like that. And it was convenient for us and we're all about what's best for us, right? Since she was thrown in head first she didn't get time to ease into our group which would have given her an escape route. Instead she was trapped! Sucker!

Well here's my beef. We got here before her. We've been her longer and damn it she gets to leave first? Not fair! Leaving first is the easiest. It's the ones left back waiting (or stuck forever, sorry Brandy) that are suckin! It's harder to fill the voids left by friends who've come and gone than to start fresh in a new adventure.

We spent nearly everyday doing something together. We survived the deployment together as well as the post deployment struggles. It's been a rough road we've travelled but we laugh. We can always laugh even if half the group thinks Brandy and I shouldn't mix according to game night answers that is....liars, you love it!

Some friendships are meant to be temporary and eventually fade into memories. The ones we've made here aren't that type. We're not saying goodbye, we're saying "see you later" even though later may be really far away. We love you guys and you're going to be missed more than you or I could have imagined!

Enjoy your new adventure Sud's Family. It's gonna be hard to find people like Brandy and I and our crazy families again you know? You're welcome!

~Till They All Come Home~

Lamberts Throwed Rolls and Hog Jowls

We've been going ninety to nothing the past couple weeks! I've been dying to eat at Lamberts Cafe for a while now. Dana told me they throw rolls and that's all I needed to know. Any resturant that throws food is great in my opinion!

We finally went two weeks ago. We went with Ambers family and our good friend James. We got there and put our name on the waiting list at 4:45. Only an hour and forty minute wait! Wow! We waited because dang it I want someone to throw food!

We got our table and Amber's in-laws were with us. Well they're about as country as you can get coming from Indiana. We ordered our food, caught some food from the air and got more brought around in giant pots and slopped onto our plates. Oh wait, I didn't eat on a plate! It was a giant fryin pan!

Ambers Father in Law ordered Jowls. I had no idea what jowls were. Then next thing I know Korbin and Cadie were each eating themselves some hog jowls. Korbin told me it was good! Amber's hubby told Cadie to ask her grandpa what they were. He replied "the jaw of the hog (cheek)", as if that's perfectly normal.

Korbin's response to that bit of knowlege: "I'm full of eating this now." And he put it on the table.

~Till They All Come Home~

Half Naked Foreigner OR Trick-or-Treat OR Men Dressed as Women

First off let me just mention that we encountered this guy along our trick-or-treat route. He and a trusty companion were passing out candy. He talked with a crazy accent. His friend that was with him was in a military uniform but it wasn't United States so we're not sure where they came from since we do have a lot of foreign military here on the Fort. But I was cool with him stopping to hand out candy to our kids.

Right up until I realized he wasn't wearing any pants. At which point I couldn't stop staring and laughing. And my real camera had been put away since it was dark so I was left with this terrible image from my phone. But you can clearly see that his legs are painted but there are no pants.

Creepy.


Oh and one more thing. No Pants Guy should have been told by his trusty companion not to be squatting down because his little speedo's weren't enough...

So, On to the good pictures. Here's our group of kids. Somehow Megan and Abby are missing from this picture. This was right before we started trick-or-treating. Tayton is chewbacca and Korbin's a dinosaur after he decided that he wasn't going to wear his werewolf costume so he loaned it to Nicholas because he's so stinking sweet!

Everyone really loved my milk jug skeleton's that I slaved over for the past couple weeks!

I wasn't kidding. They LOVED them. Those guys got an awful lot of attention!

This is what Kirke would look like if he had hair like Dorothy from Wizard of OZ. I"m glad he doesn't. But it also kinda makes me wonder what a baby girl would have looked like .....scary!

And as if it wasn't bad enough that Kirke put on the wig but Christian dressed up as a Spartan Cheerleader from SNL.

Kirke and I ditched our Roman God and Goddess costumes we originally planned on for a more simple Thing 1 and Thing 2. We got way more attention than I'd have liked. Too many people talked to us and pointed us out and that's not really my thing. Really it's not....

All in all we had a fantastic day. Sadly our Halloween was also a going away party for some of our very closest friends. Tayton's best friend and one of mine.

~Till They All Come Home~