Getting Ready for Baby

Today was a busy, busy day in the MacNeil house. We had the daunting task of turning the extra storage room into a baby-worthy space. It had been used for the last year as Tricia's Scrapbook/everything else in the world room and so we had to clear it all out to make room. The first chore we tackled was going through the shoe boxes, believe it or not I threw out several pairs (they're actually going to the thrift shop, but we still got rid of them) and it was quite a painful process. I can remember when I bought each pair of shoes and all the significant occasions that I wore them. But I'll quit lamenting about my shoes.

When we finished several hours later (like all day) and moved the furniture several times (poor Cory) we are one step closer to having a place to bring our baby bean. The crib is missing a few pieces, I think the people who gave it to us might still have them, but other than that everything came together well. Cory assembled our IKEA dresser in record time (under 30 minutes). I think it just needs a rocker where we can sit and rock baby back to sleep. We also set up our pack 'n' play which doubles as a bassinet and changing table. Cory also enjoyed putting together the only toy we have for him. He's so excited to be bringing his son home soon. (5 1/2 weeks left)!!

In the evening we turned to the General Conference on the internet.

Army Achievement Medal

Another cycle at the Warrior Leader Course has begun. To start our week off, the day before we recieved all of our students we had an acadmey meeting where we talk about changes, recieve our own cadre training and recieve awards. To my surprise I recieved the AAM for my selection as the Acadmey NCO of the quarter right before I left for ANCOC. The funny thing is that I did not expect to win the competition at all. I had only short notice of it taking place and Tricia had a doctors appointment that morning that I was taking her to which made me anticipate not going to the competition at all. I arrived back at the acadmey just in time to change into class A and walk into the board. By the time I walked out fifteen minutes later I had won. One thing I like about the acadmey is that you do not have to wait until your three years of service is at its end to be recognized for achievements along the way. That is not typical of many other army organizations. Once we recieve our students the days go by at 100 miles per hour. There is so much to be done that if you are not careful to always look ahead on the training schedule important events will sneak up on you. I seem to have recieved a good cass this cycle. It all depends on the toss of the dice. So many instructors have left the academy and replaced by new cadre that I find myself at one year among the senior.

IKEA and TomTom

So this weekend Cory had some time off and we needed baby furniture. We were given a crib by someone in the ward, which was so generous and nice of them, but we didn't have any place to put baby's clothes and all the necessities for him. We also needed an organization method for our office/front room. We had previously looked at the furniture store here on post, but it was expensive and not what either one of us had in mind, so the solution? IKEA!

We're pretty much fans of IKEA, you in Utah will Love, Love, Love yours in Draper. You can get everything, and we mean everything there. Our closest IKEA is an hour an a half drive in Regensburg. We had planned that if the weather stayed nice, we were also going to go to the city center and enjoy some of the sites. We also used this as the first opportunity to take our new best friend TomTom out for a drive. Cory bought him while he was in MO for ANCOC. TomTom is a great navigator and told us exactly how to get to IKEA. He's such a great friend to have in the car. We haven't named him yet, mostly because we haven't found a name that fits. But when we do, we can yell at him when he takes us down crazy roads that are dirt or not paved (which he tried to do).

We even ate lunch at the cafe in IKEA, meatballs and french fries. It was surprisingly good and there was no smoking, so we could eat our meal without wanting to gag. We found a great dresser that we might be able to double as a changing table when our bean is little. We also found a great rug for the floor for 12 euro. We got a few ideas for organizing our office too and we'll be planning another trip down there to pick the rest of it up later.

In other news, I was called to be the Primary Secretary, a welcome change from teaching 9 4-year olds. It will be a good calling to have when the baby comes.

DA Photo

After attendin the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course I placed the 3 device on my professional development ribbon and had a new Department of the Army Photo taken. When the promotion board meets they review the files on all promotable staff sergeants which tells them where they have been and what they have done. This photo is all they will see of me to put a face to the record the board is reviewing.

On my first day back to work I was surprised to find that it was the last day of the work week going into a four day week end. What a great time to return. I have been settling back in and getting things going on around the house to catch up.

Hiccups

The baby has the hiccups, it was cute the first time it happened a few weeks ago, but honestly now it's a little bothersome. He generally gets them about the time I decide to relax and put my feet up. They say it's because he's practicing breathing, so hopefully he's going to have quite a set of lungs when he's born. He has also been kicking a lot lately, he's obviously my child as he likes to spend lots of time hanging on my ribs and as my mom says, I did the same thing also. At least he heard the threats and has turned the right way, maybe he'll cooperate and I can avoid surgery in Germany, we'll have to see. 33 weeks 2 days...6 weeks and 5 days to go!

Baby Registry

Hello Everyone!! I know it's silly, but we registered for baby on target.com so if you or anyone is looking for something that we need for baby you can look us up there. They're giving me a shower here and they wanted someplace to look to see exactly what we still needed. Anyway, in case you wanted to know.

We're 33 weeks yesterday. Just 7 more weeks left. I think the next few weeks will go by quickly since I am still teaching dance until our recital on the 21st, the few weeks after that will be slow I'm sure. But hopefully my mom will be here to keep me company!

Home From My Journey

It is great to be home after such a long journey and to be back with Tricia once again. I was fortunate that my seven hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean departed at 11:53 in the evening which made it easy to go to sleep for the majority of the journey. Tricia met me at the airport with a big kiss.

Dr. Ponnath showed us that the bean has a healthy heart beat and the blood is flowing as it should to his brain. He told us that the blood flow to the brain indicated that placenta is doing its job and taking food to the baby. We were able to listen to his heart beat with a special microphone and speaker, and then we saw the blood pumping in his brain with some modifications to the ultrasound.

Our New Blog

So I thought we'd start a blog that we can both post to and share all the excitement of our lives with everyone. This will be a good way for us to share news about the baby and all the latest happenings on our side of the world.

Cory is coming home from ANCOC tomorrow, he should actually be travelling home right now. It's been a pretty long 8 weeks and there's been so much happening that he'll have to take a few days to recover from more than just jet lag.

I had a St. Patrick's day performance for my Irish dancers on Thursday. It was for a private party and involved lots of practices, but it all worked out well. They are really starting to look like dancers who know what they are doing. I'll be excited to see how the spring recital turns out. The big news from the performance? I danced the set St. Patrick's Day at 32 weeks!! Go me! I think the baby will miss all the bouncing when he's born. We'll have to get a swing for him.