Refreshed

Well it always happens. Every Thursday I wake up refreshed and rejuvenated because of kid's group the night before, fresh with ideas to fix the world. While I can usually subside most of the "need" to change the world by this evening, I am after all only one person and it is extremely hard for me to fit in the things I do anyways. I do find myself at least passing on some ideas to some of my community in hopes that they will help in the cause. Last night we made a Differences Board where everyone helped decorate scraps of paper with some of their unique qualities and we glued them up on a big board, to remind us that our uniqueness makes us different and special. All because I read this quote the other day..."I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself". How true is that?

Oh yeah and I finally got around to holding still long enough for some belly pics, this is my favorite...I can't help but laugh at Joe. :-)

Back to wide open spaces.

So Joe and I spent the weekend in New York, first off we traveled with the Air Force and stayed on an Army base...for us never being in the military this was quite an adventure. I kept telling Joe, "see this is what I have been doing all year". It is a very different way of traveling, trust me. Secondly New York was everything that we had always heard it would be. It would take me some time to get used to not having my own space, everything is very small...the seats you sit on, the bathrooms even the lanes on the streets, but just the ability to walk to anything you want is very appealing. Joe and I have been talking about sometime in the future taking six months to a year at a time and living in another place, just to truly experience it. There are the obvious places South Africa, Italy, Australia and now New York. Our list just keeps on getting longer and longer. We were able to meet up with Zach and Joe (two of his friends from high school) which was a blast. I like sitting around listening to old stories and laughing with new friends. Of course we spent a majority of this time sitting in hole in the wall bars and it made me want a beer so bad I am pretty sure I was shaking, but I made it through it all.

My feet must either be swelling or growing but either way I have cracks and blisters from walking around New York. Oh yeah and my ankles swelled up to the size of grapefruits on the flight, all of the sudden my skin started to itch and I pulled up my pant legs and sure enough there were these giant ankles looking back at me. Thank goodness they didn't swell much more it would have split my skin wide open.

Our girls didn't win either game (Army or Navy) but they played well towards the end...just kind of ran out of steam. It was a different experience to play Army at home the stands were packed, faces were painted, chants were started. I have to admit it was intimidating sitting on the bench much less playing, so I can only imagine what the girls were going through.

Joe was hilarious the entire trip, I think he just wanted a job...some kind of purpose to be there. So he would run around and help out with supplies, and help the trainers and the athletic directors both for Air Force and the other teams. We really should have gotten him some kind of Air Force gear just so people knew who he was there with. The athletic director for Army gave Joe the MVP title of the tournament. LOL Too funny.

On baby news we are officially into the third trimester. As far as I am concerned I still haven't bought any maternity clothes just wearing the same ol' jeans. The guys at the gym just look at me like I really must eat poor to continue to gain weight even though I am in there every day. One of Joe's friends in New York was telling me that I don't even look pregnant yet and I told him well see that's the problem though while I am happy to not have to buy new clothes, I do end up feeling odd at places like the pubs in New York when I continue to order water. If I was super pregnant looking everyone would understand. Some of my basketball girls still don't even know and they saw me everyday. Don't get me wrong I am definatley growing but it is more of an everywhere growth rather than just a belly, welcome to the weirdness of my body.

An Update from Colorado

Let's see what's been going on in Colorado...

Joe and I leave for New York on Thursday afternoon which should be an amazing time, I have never seen New York and I don't believe Joe remembers most of his last trip out there. ;-)

We are coming up on the 7 month of pregnancy and the third trimester next week. Not sure if it's because I am an engineer or what but I love goals and deadlines, they give me such a feeling of accomplishment. So I really like that we are on the downhill slide of baby growing. Luckily unlike some of my friends I am not uncomfortable yet so I don't have that constant "get this baby out of me" thought running through my head. It's just more of a "I wonder if she'll have brown hair or blonde, blue eyes, big smile...?" that kind of stuff.

Other than that, work is about the same and our house is still a construction zone. Which by the way both Joe and I have come to the conclusion that the house looking like this adds to our anxiety.

Hearing...

So apparently this little girl inside of me can hear what's going on outside of her surroundings. While I have some obvious questions about this, like does it sound like the things I can hear under water while scuba diving? The white noise of water in my ears? If so she has to be the most relaxed baby ever, I LOVE that sound. Last night my basketball team played Buckley Air Force Base as the buzzers went off, whistles blew and shoes squeaked I smiled on the bench thinking to myself what this little one will be like at her first basketball game. I already have several invites to play on teams next season so she'll be just 6 months old...I wonder if the sounds of basketball will be as soothing to her as they are to me.

Both our men's and women's teams won last night against the base teams, of course I was rooting for them but I have to admit there is something amazing to watch when people my age organize basketball teams. Most of the base teams out there are people that play because they love the game, they have normal jobs in the military but have the opportunity to play in a college like setting for 20-30 games a season. You can't take that kind of love out of someone and it shows in the way they play. Our teams had more injuries, more subs and more general whining while their teams didn't even call timeouts much less plays. But boy oh boy did they give our teams a run for their money.

A Beautiful Day!

It is going to be 68 degrees today in Colorado Springs. Yesterday Joe replaced an exterior door of ours, working the day away without a shirt on. On Sunday J and I spent 4 hours sitting on a patio drinking coffee in the sun. Yep I love Colorado. I love that we have seasons but have breaks like these throughout them to remind us how lucky we are.

Speaking of replacing doors, we are in the process of remodeling one of our living rooms. What started out as a good place to start scraping the popcorn off the ceiling has turned into replacing doors, carpet and tile. While I loath living in a construction zone, it will be nice to have it all done. Of course once we are done with one room I am sure we will tear into another, but that's life.

Our New President

So this morning as if it were fate, I was paged to work at 4AM. I truly was not that excited about the new president taking over. Perhaps it is because the process takes so long but what ever the reason it was going to be a lack luster event today. And then while I was waiting on some processes to clear up with nothing better to do at 4AM I read my local paper.

Apparently there was a giant group of people that volunteered here in the Springs during the Obama campaign. Well yesterday Michelle Obama sent them an email asking these people if they have extra time on MLK Day to give back to the community. The city of Colorado Springs heard this loud and clear. Yesterday as if the city was taken over all of those volunteers poured into the city painting, cleaning and feeding our community. Everyone reading this knows how I feel about volunteering, needless to say I was encouraged by the new "first" family. My favorite quote from the news paper article was from one guy that said "change cannot happen from Washington down, it has to happen from the community up". I could not agree more. So yes I am actually excited about the new change in power, but for the first time it has nothing to do with my tax bracket.

Sunbeams

I love sunbeams, in fact I am absolutely positive I was a plant in a former life. This morning before the vampire boys get up and around I was able to get all of the all blinds up and let the sun treat the animals and I. We love it, of course by the time I come back from the gym I am sure the place will be closed back down into a tomb...but for now it's amazing.

Speaking of animals, they must be able to tell that I am a new mommy because they all gather around me at night while we are watching TV. And trust me if you have ever seen our living room and the small corner I sit in there is not enough room for me and my glass of water much less both dogs and cats, but we make it work.

For the mom's reading this, we built snow igloos out of sugar cubes last night at my family night. Turns out Elmer's school glue dissolves sugar cubes...good to know. Not sure how you are supposed to get them to stick, perhaps frosting but trust me when I tell you that glue with make it even more messy.

The first part of the year at work is always the busiest for me, the projects that everyone had forgotten about are now surfacing...well at least the ones not on other people's to do lists. Those projects on people's to do lists came up during the last week of December...thank you to all of those procrastinators out there. I am talking about all the projects that were only mentioned in meetings as "sure would be nice if...". Those are the ones that I am starting to work on now, at least I feel busy most of the time and that sure does help time pass.

And on one final note I was invited to a baby shower this weekend and in thinking about it, I haven't told one person who will be there that I am in fact pregnant too. Wow did I actually miss telling an entire group of friends that I have been close with for almost 10 years. Well that should be a nice awkward conversation when I am offered a glass of wine...I can hear it now "I am actually just about 2 months behind you...why didn't I bring it up before this, well you know how hard it is to write an email or pick up the phone, I mean nearly impossible." Perhaps I will skip the shower and deal with the awkward conversation when they see me at the store with a baby. :-)