29 week appt!

Things are looking good still with baby. We had our second attempt at a 3D ultrasound today, but baby boy is still not cooperating, so we have given up. The ultrasound tech managed to get two decent pictures, but we were not charged because she didn't feel that we got enough to be charged for. She will keep watching him at all the ultrasounds and see if she can get any decent ones, but the chances get slimmer the further along I get because he will just keep getting bigger and burying his face more in the placenta.

Health wise he is doing great, his head is still measuring 3 weeks big, and technically he is measuring about a week ahead, but he is only in the 55% for his gestational age, so he's really not too big. Doctor said he will probably be around Natalie's size maybe a bit smaller as he will be delivered a week early. He was moving around great today and his heart rate was 155 bpm. Still a bit lazy on the practice breathing, but he did it today without being "buzzed" so thats great. They said often times they don't catch the practice breathing on the ultrasounds so not to be too worried about it.

I am hoping to get a preliminary c-section date on the calendar in the next few days, Dr. Boyd said his nurse will be calling me to set something up. I am thinking it will probably be Tuesday, Sept 2 - unless of course he doesn't do surgeries those days...

Anyway, here are pictures from today's ultrasound...





And for comparison's sake... here is a 3D of Natalie...

Dear Baby...

While I am glad you are no longer breech, did you REALLY have to flip the NIGHT BEFORE our 3D ultrasound? I am glad you are in the right position for birth now, but it isn't helpful for Mommy and Daddy when you bury your face in the placenta and don't allow us to see your adorable face. And your big sister Natalie really wants to see what her little brother looks like too, she gives you kisses all the time and would love to know who baby is :)

Love you,
Mommy


My ultrasound went good today, baby is moving well and doing the practice breathing he should be again... although, he does still appear lazy. As I mentioned above, he is no longer breech, he turned in the middle of the night last night... I felt it enough to wake me up subconciously so much so that I thought it had been a dream. They didn't actually do measurements today because they figure every week at this point is overkill. I will get measurements of baby (as well as attempt a second 3D ultrasound - good thing they didn't charge me this time!) next week! I have the 3D ultrasound at 9 am Wednesday and then my other "diagnostic" ultrasound at 3pm and will see the OB at 4. I wish they could have gotten the times closer together, but unfortunately they only do the 3D at 9 am! UGH! We are not too hopeful about the 3D ultrasound next week, baby seems to be in the same position Natalie was in at this point, and she never unburied herself either. The ultrasound tech said that unless he moves it is unlikely we will get anything because the bigger he gets the more he will squish into the placenta! I guess he just wants to surprise us! From what we could tell though, he might look like Natalie... at least feature wise...

Not much else to update on since I did an update yesterday... but here are the ultrasound pictures from today

28 weeks..

28 weeks today! We have another ultrasound tomorrow, these weekly ultrasounds could make for a long rest of the pregnancy! We were planning to do the 3D ultrasound sometime around 30 weeks, but when I called to schedule they said with the baby measuring big we should do it now! So, for my birthday we doing a 3D ultrasound of baby #2! We already know its a boy, but are curious to see if he looks anything like Natalie. We did compare the 2D ultrasounds and we see very similar bone structure for the two babies... so who knows! I will be speechless if we have another fair skinned blue eyed baby though!

For those of you who can understand ultrasounds, compare these two pictures, do you see similarities in bone structure? The first is Natalie, the second is the new baby. Of course one is a scan and one is a file taken from our ultrasound CD, so the quality is a bit different...


































In unrelated news, we had a problem with the Taurus about a week ago, it was leaking fluid, which was reddish in color, come to find out it was transmission fluid! While the car is relatively new (2006) and we bought an aftermarket warranty it didn't help us much in this care, because the repair was the same as the deductible. What is annoying is that the auto tech told me that it was a problem with the way the vent in the transmission works, so you would think it would be a recall issue and fixed for free, but of course we never get that lucky... it would have been fixed with a new car warranty, but alas, it was a year old car when we got it... sucks though as we would have easily been inside the new car warranty time period!

Though, in this bad news we had a really positive potty training experience... I was out ALL day with Natalie. I put her in a pull up and we made it home dry! She told me twice she had to go potty and the third time I just figured she needed to go and she did! It was exciting!

Yesterday we got our verizon FIOS service installed, and of course Tommy is excited about that. I could care less, to me, as long as I have internet I am happy! But, we all know Tommy needs to have the best possible! It took from around noon to 5 pm which was annoying but, at least its done! And in a month we will be receiving our $150 cash back reward for switching.. woohoo!

My birthday is on a Thursday this year, which I was disappointed about before because it was one of my babysitting days, but now I am no longer babysitting (the other babysitter they use is about as pregnant as me and no longer wants to work so instead of finding someone for the other 3 days they decided to put the Addie in daycare...) So, I will probably be relaxing on my birthday. Most likely we will go out to dinner at Bandido's (our local Mexican restaurant that gives a free birthday meal!) and then renting a movie from the redbox! Exciting plans I know, but hey it gets me out of the house so I am happy..

I am sure I am forgetting something I wanted to update about, but Natalie is getting cranky...

27 week update..

SO, its been a while since I updated this thing, I went to the OB today for my 27 week appointment. This was a dreaded appointment because I had to do the glucose testing as well as some other blood work, and I also was nervous about the biophysical profile ultrasound. As I expected, I was at the OB's office for quite a while today, over two hours. As far as the blood work I won't know anything for a few days.

But, Baby looks good... albeit big, but healthy, and lazy with a big head. Wonder who baby's taking after there... lol Baby is measuring 2 weeks ahead, so approx 29 weeks instead of the 27 it should be measuring. We did get confirmation that IT'S A BOY, so that's one good thing that came out of the ultrasound. They also told me that my placenta is up high in my uterus which could be why I am not feeling as much movement this time around. When he moves though, I can already see it through my tummy. Baby is breech as well, not only breech, but "butt first" as the tech said, so between that and the big head, I think its probably a good thing that I will most likely be having a c-section. My blood pressure is still looking good and my weight gain is still at approx 0 for the whole pregnancy (I lost 10ish lbs in the first month or so and then have been slowly gaining it back, although my weight gain for the last month is ZERO!) I now go every two weeks to see the OB, but I also got the "bad news" that I have to go EVERY WEEK for an ultrasound from here on out... I am confused as to why because everything looks fine... guess I will just be glad I get to see baby frequently... but man will I get tired of seeing that office by the time I am done!







So, I guess all is going as good as can be expected on that front. Tommy is mostly recovered from his gallbladder surgery. And, we are potty training Natalie!! She is doing excellent, she has absolutely NO accidents when running around bare bum. Now, we are going to transition her to big girl panties and see if she can master that. She still will be using pull-ups for nap and night time, but hey.. its progress!

Speaking of pull-ups, we got really lucky this weekend. I found an ad on CVS.com advertising Pampers Easy Ups for 8.99 and you got $5 ECB back (basically, cash to use in store... which I will turn around and use on another awesome sale.. I go EVERY Sunday!). So, that's 3.99 a package before my coupons... I ended up getting 3 packs basically free. Actually, the ad was an error on CVS's part, but thankfully they honored it for anyone who had purchased before they pulled the ad! :)

Pampers 8.99 - $1 coupon
Pampers 8.99 - $1 coupon
Pampers 8.99
Bayer 2.00 - $1 coupon
Candy for Natalie .88
Filler caramel .33

- $10 off $30 purchase CVS coupon
= approx $18 on my debit card
Got back $5 x 3 ($15) ECB for pampers and $2 ECB for the bayer (raincheck)
So, I got all the diapers, plus the other items for about a dollar!! Sweet deal!

Summer update

'bout time that we get an update in. Quite a bit has happened since the October update.

Best things first: Jenn is pregnant with our second lil' one. We're looking forward to our lil' boy late-August to beginning-of-September. Natalie seems excited and says "baby" often, especially when she sees ultrasound pictures... even little tiny ones that are sitting on the desktop of the computer.

Natalie is zipping along in speaking. She knows lots of words (never had the chance to start a list to count) and strings together some sentences, such as:

• Help you (really meaning help me, but she imitates "Want us to help you")
• Oliver, stay there
• I get it; I drop it
• Hold it (sometimes followed by what she wants held)

There's some others in there, with the list of words and sentences growing as time goes on.

Jenn has recently put together a bunch of scrapbook pages in a whirlwind scrapping frenzy while I was recovering, getting a large percent of what had been queued up complete... There's still quite a bit left, but she put quite a dent in it.

Speaking of my recovering, two weeks ago I had a gallbladder attack and went to the ER. At the time I didn't know it was the gallbladder and the doctor suggested that might be it... so I was sent home and set to schedule an ultrasound to figure out what in the world it was. I managed to get in Monday afternoon and was sent to get the surgery done ASAP. I was sent to the ER to get a doctor's validation of what needed to be done and was admitted right away. Late Tuesday I had the gallbladder taken out and went home Wednesday. Early recovery was not very friendly, laproscopic != simple process after reading up. All is good now and I just need to watch what I eat.

There's been some new things at work lately: new cubicles, a new intern, and an office manager. Work is as busy as ever with no shortage of things to do and client projects to complete.

Long time no update!

Well its been a LONG time since I updated this thing, Natalie is 18 months old TODAY! It's sad that she is growing up so fast, but I love the ages she is at right now. Natalie is definitely the light of our lives.

We have been in our house for almost a year and a half.... its still no where near what we want it to be, buying all the furniture and such is a daunting task. We would love to get a new couch for our living room. For our bedroom we are finding old pieces of furniture to rehab. It is something fun for me and it gives us some solid dressers and such for not a lot of money. Which is a good thing because we all know there is NEVER enough money.

My car got broken into this weekend... talk about annoying. There really wasn't anything of value in my car, but that's totally not the point. It is totally ridiculous that people think it is okay to do this. They ripped open a wrapped baby shower gift that was in the trunk. Hello, what is in there of value to a robber?

Tommy and I have started talking about a second child. We don't want the kids to be too far apart in age so we just have to figure out when we want to have the second. It's exciting to think about having another little baby in the house but I am not looking forward to knowing that I won't ever be able to have another after this one. However, with the necessary repeat c-sections I just can't see going in for surgery after surgery when there are so many unwanted kids in the world. If we decide we want more kids there is always adoption.

Gotta go for now.

10 weeks and counting

I have about 10 weeks left if I give birth around my estimated due date. It is hard to believe that I will be at 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow.

Tommy and I have been very busy getting our lives ready for our new baby. His car recently broke down for good and we purchased a new car - well, relatively at least its a 2006 Ford Taurus. It was previously used as a rental car so it was well maintained and is practically new minus a few cosmetic things on the drivers seat. I am loving driving around in that car, its alot easier to get in and out of than my old Cavalier. During the bad weather he's driving my car and I am driving the newer one, once the snow melts and the weather warms up we are going to switch back and forth as to who gets to drive the new one!

At 28 weeks we had another ultrasound, baby is still a girl! She looks so much like her daddy! I wonder if she will look the same when shes born. Surprisingly, she didn't appear to have chubby cheeks like most of the 3D ultrasounds I have seen... the tech said that some babies are just smaller than others.

Next weekend is our baby shower and I look forward to seeing all of our family! I need to get the nursery set up and cleaned out so that any of our new things can go in there until baby decides to join us.

Life from the view of Tom

Well, life's been pretty interesting as of late...
Jenn and I are goin' to have a baby! December 5th we get to find out what it is!!!
At work things are changing around a bit... I guy who was on contract was canned early, the intern is doin' some pretty awesome work, and we have a new manager to help things move along.
Check out www.identityalliance.com for the current web-page of the company. Soon we'll have more stuff and cooler stuff.

Jenn has a new job. She's working at DeBrand's Chocolates, helping with the mail orders and boxing chocolates. Phoenix is taking it pretty good: he goes crazy for a short time when I get back... nothing too new... but then he's pretty good once dinner's done and all.

Another thing... I've started my own blog @ http://eharning.blogspot.com ... I'll still blog here, but some stuff, such as techy stuff will go there. It's also on the left-hand side of this blog.

We're Pregnant!

Well, the title of this post says it all, Tommy and I are expecting a baby around the end of April. We were not planning to have children for a couple years, but obviously God had different plans for us. We are working on figuring out finances, insurance etc... WHAT FUN.

I will post more later, I am approx 8 weeks along so we still have lots more fun to go... so far things have been pretty rough, cant wait for the 14 week mark when things are supposed to settle down so to speak!

Weekend and the basement saga continues!

It's been a long week....Tuesday the apartment complex started the epoxy process in the townhome next to ours. Within a couple of hours the smell was overwhelming, but I continued to just ignore the smell until about 4:00 it got to be too much. I went to our landlord to complain. Luckily for me, the complex OWNERS were in the office when I stopped by so they got an earful of my complaints. Kelly took my name and said "let me come up with some options and I will call you." The owners came over to check things out and made the ruling that the chemicals were NOT usable because they were too "potent" to use in people's living quarters. We got shipped off to the AmeriSuites here in Fort Wayne for two nights while they finished our floors - they decided to use latex paint instead of epoxy. The hotel was okay - would have been easier without the puppy, he does well but he does like to play and bark and you cant really have him doing that in a hotel room! When I returned home Thursday morning, I thought it was kind of strange that the windows to our townhome were fogged up. I went inside and the men were still working on the basement, and my house was less than 60 degrees!!!! I was slightly upset because we have "suffered" with the AC off the last month to save money and they had it that low for two days. Personally, I dont think there is any excuse for having it THAT cold, especially without the permission of the person paying the bill! Really was just the last straw - we are most definately looking for a new place starting in December!

And, after all this drama, the paint is already coming up off the floors....

On the upside we got away from everything this weekend and went up to Detroit with our puppy. We were only there for Saturday and Sunday but it was a nice break away from the clutter in our home. On Saturday we pretty much just relaxed around the house, minus a trip to CVS that left me with a toenail pretty much ripped off (*OUCH*) and dinner out. Sunday we got up and went to church and then breakfast with Tommy's family. The rest of the afternoon Tommy played games with his family then we took them out for chinese before leaving. After having to make several stops, we finally got home last night about 11:30.

We may have another road trip planned in the next week - we are putting lots of miles on my car and money into the hands of those wonderful oil producers! :-/

The funniest thing happened to Phoenix... obviously, as puppies get older they change, but who thought it could happen overnight??? When Phoenix woke up this morning one of his ears had miraciously flipped over into the "correct" position... lets hope the other follows suit soon, or he might be one silly looking dog. *new pics of Phoenix uploaded*

It's been proven, things come in multiples...

both good and bad. First, the bad - as mentioned before the basement of our townhome was flooded. It turns out the flood was due to a malfunction/failure of the sump pump so our insurance wont cover it and the apartment community's insurance will only cover their property. I think its great that renters have no way to protect themselves against stuff like this, its not our fault that they dont keep up on things around here. Well, we are still waiting for them to "fix" the damage to the basement. They decided instead of cleaning the carpet they would just rip it up and paint/epoxy the floors. We will see how that goes, right now we are stuck with everything from our basement all over the house and the smell hangs in the air. In addition, Tommy's power cord for his laptop died so hes in the process of looking for a new one. (On top of the fact that my laptop is STILL disfunctional as it has been since before the wedding.)

But, in spite of my negativity about the above, there is good news, at least for me. My parents and sister found a place they will be living come the end of September. My dad's new job will be based out of Alabama, so they are packing up and moving for the second time in less than three years. I have seen a couple pictures of the place, and it seems very nice - its new construction so its kind of being built to their specifications as far as the finishing touches. They will close on the house September 29. Even more good news, I should get to see my mom and sister mid-September for almost a week - they are planning to visit Tommy and I on their way down to Huntsville.

With everything thats happened with our townhome and the issues we are facing, Tommy and I have been looking at our options for when our lease is up. We are going to check into buying a home and if that doesnt seem feasible we will find someplace else to rent, I highly doubt we will be in the same place in a year. I am a stickler for customer service and they have none!

Phoenix had a vet apppointment with a new vet on Thursday. I wasnt totally comfortable with our previous vet and this one is cheaper/closer. We are doing a wellness plan with Banfield Pet Hospital (associated with PetsMart) that will provide all necessary basic care and vaccinations as well as free office visits and two comprehensive exams a year (and so much more) and we will get a discount on services outside of what they cover; it will also be nice to spread the expected expenses out evenly. Unfortunately, Phoenix was subjected to some things he wasnt ready for - the over vet had never taken his temperature! He also got four different shots versus the one he had gotten previously. He wasnt a happy camper to say the least. The good news is that the vet gave our pup a clean bill of health and said he is in excellent condition. We go back in two weeks for two more vaccinations and will schedule his nuetering and microchipping for a couple weeks after that. In addition, because Phoenix is an aussie shepherd, we are having a test done to determine if he has a mutated gene that can cause problems with several drugs (including heartworm preventative, tranquilizers and pain meds). More information about MDR1 mutations can be found here.

We decided to enroll Phoenix in puppy classes because he has a couple quirks that we are having a hard time with - mainly hes not confident around new people and other animals. He's not aggressive, but he gets overly excited and hard to handle. It will also be nice because Tommy will be the "leader" during the classes so hopefully it will help him build a stronger bond with Phoenix. Right now the puppy is a "momma's boy" and tends to mind my commands and ignore Tommy. I can only imagine how frustrating that must be! We do have a couple of new pictures of him up on our Phoenix Pics Link :)

Thats about all thats going in Fort Wayne - life goes on, day by day... nothing too exciting. But, thats what we enjoy so much... :)

P.S. I will make Tommy post on here soon!

Can I hate Mother Nature?

I woke up this morning going about my day as if nothing was wrong... take the dog out etc. On my way out the door my neighbor comes out and asks me "Is your basement flooded?" I say to her, I don't think so, but let me go look... sure enough... it flooded. Granted we did have some heavy rain last night - approximately 3 inches, but I cant believe how bad it flooded. We basically got 3 inches of water into our basement... Doesn't seem like much but we lost a lot of stuff.

Unfortunately, Tommy isn't here so I am having to figure this out myself. Our losses: Christmas cards for this year, futon mattress, rug, Christmas stocking and tree skirt (color ran). Those are the big "in the trash" items, but some others got wet - our entertainment center, my sewing machine, our Christmas tree, Christmas decorations, all my clothing high school memoirs (parka, blanket, letterman jacket), my portable radio, 2 sets of luggage, Tommy's Golf clubs, and so much more.

Unfortunately our losses are not covered under our renters insurance - wouldn't you know, the one thing we need they don't cover. I am at a loss as for what to do, my house smells like mold/mildew even after they sent a carpet cleaner in to extract the water and spray some chemical stuff. I have the stuff from the basement ALL OVER my house and cant really put it back down there, especially now that I know the basements flood. I guess it could be a fluke, but I am just not sure if I want to take that chance again.

The water seems to have come up from the drain for the washer and dryer - I am clueless, but it seems to me that shouldn't happen?

I'm really bummed out seeing as how I had planned to have the house all perfect when Tommy got home so we could have a nice romantic weekend together. *sigh* I guess someone had different plans for me...

Tommy is on his first (of many?) business trips. He left yesterday morning and made it to Washington DC last night - he and his boss have meetings all day today and some meetings on Tuesday. Then, they will be in New York (I assume they will travel there on Wednesday) for more meetings. They are supposed to be back sometime late Friday night.

I knew when he got the job here in Fort Wayne he would have to travel, I just didnt think it would be so soon - I am not used to our place yet and its kind of scary being here alone! Thankfully, I do have the puppy and he seems to sense that I am a bit on edge, he follows me around and lays right at my feet.

I have started looking for jobs even though I am not sure what I want to do with myself. My degrees are in Business and Economics but I dont really want to work in that cut-throat environment. Before college, I wanted to be the CEO of some big company, I know I have what it takes to do it, but I am not willing to sacrifice my time with Tommy and, in the future, our children. I have this feeling I want to be a teacher, but we obviously cant afford for me to go back to school right now and not work - so I am hoping to find something for a little while. If I could find assistant positions or something that would be ideal because it would allow me to get into the classroom and get a feel for whether or not its really what I want to do. I know its not easy, but it would give me the hours I am looking for as well as allow me to do something that really means somehing to me - work with and help children. I also considered looking into vet work, but more and more I realize thats not for me. As much as I love animals I dont think I could do the "dirty work."

The best part of all this is that because Tommy loves his job so much, he understands not wanting to "just go to work" everyday. He is supporting me in my quest to find my ideal job - I just wish it would be easier to get to where I want to be career wise.

While I struggle to figure out where I want to go with my career, I have been working hard trying to get puppy well trained. He does tricks and behaves for the most part, but he is still a puppy. Everyone had been recommending that I read "Cesar's Way" by Cesar Milan (hes the dog whisperer on tv). I received the book the other day and read it cover to cover in one sitting. Alot of the info is very basic, common sense, type advice; however, I think that reading the book ties up loose ends and will help alot. I can't wait for Tommy to read it when he gets back, I think it will help him a ton since he hasn't had much experience with dogs. I did look into puppy training classes at our local PetsMart, but was turned off about the training philosophies they were sharing with me. If this book doesn't help I will seek out private puppy lessons. While hes not a bad dog, I want a well behaved dog so that when we have children there will be no worries.

That's all thats been going on here, nothing too exciting... unfortunately work gets in the way of that. LOL

To Get Things Started...

Let's start off with a huge post to update people on whats been going on the last month since the wedding. Nothing can be said without first reviewing the wedding.

THE WEDDING:
The wedding was a big blur in our minds really, we remember the vows and some of the interesting "problems" that came up along the way, but we are really relying on our pictures to tell us the story of the day. All I (Jenn) remember is that I thought I would have more time to get ready and wouldnt be so rushed, boy was I wrong! Tommy and I had a very long day and I think that I can speak for both of us when I say, I am glad its all over with. Anyone involved in the planning knows it was a challenge, I cant count the number of times things got changed or went wrong. In the end, "all that matters" is that we are married...
Anyone that is getting married in the next couple of years: Don't hesistate to contact us if you need help on wedding ideas or need information on what vendors to use and which to stay away from!

THE HONEYMOON:
After the stressful couple of days before the wedding, we were really looking forward to the cruise. Unfortunately we didnt get much sleep Saturday night after we got the reception hall and the bed and breakfast cleaned up, but we did make it safely to the airport. Despite our best efforts, we still almost missed our cruise - our flight sat on the runway for over an hour for the 15 minute flight from Flint to Detroit. We made the connection in Detroit with little time to spare, but we arrived safely in Miami with plenty of time to get on board. The lines to get on the ship were pretty long, but they moved well. It was a bit of work because we decided to handle most of our baggage ourselves, and 3 suitcases and lots of stairs/escalators is NOT fun! Once on board we found our room, dropped off suitcases and decided to explore the ship. I was very surprised by the size of the ship, but even more overwhelmed by the amount of people. Tommy says that it was NOTHING like this when he went with his family, so he was surprised as well.
Monday: Nassau Bahamas - We had arranged to do a dolphin encounter first thing in the morning, so we headed off to Blue Lagoon Island. I have loved dolphins my whole life, so this was an amazing experience for me. I would do it all over again, but maybe the swim program this time! After that we quickly walked through the straw market and stopped at Senor Frogs. On the way back to the ship we RAN to find the rum cakes I just HAD to have! :D There was a huge line to get back on the ship as this was our short day (7am - 2pm) and of course it decided to pour down rain!
Tuesday: Day at Sea - I dont remember specifically what we did this day, probably just wandered around the ship exploring. I think we went to a couple talks on shopping at the next two ports. We also had our first of two formal evenings at dinner - the food was stupendous!
Wednesday: St. Thomas - The first thing we did after docking in St. Thomas was browse a couple shops looking at alexandrite and tanzanite (both of which I love) and then we headed over to the Sky Ride. If I could take back one thing we spent money on it would be the sky ride, if I remember right it was over $40 for it, and all you did was ride up and ride down. It was way too hot to spend much time up there. However, at least we did get a couple of good pictures from the top! During our time at St. Thomas, we landed into a jewelry store and Tommy bought me the most beautiful necklace - its a "cultured" alexandrite pendant from the chameleon collection the main stone is 1.6 carats and there are three small diamonds accenting it! I also got an ammolite pendant from Ammolite by the Sea. In addition, Tommy bought some liquor to bring back, it was our bargain, I got jewelry, he got liquor! :) On the walk back to the ship we happened across a Wendys, and at that point we were SO thirsty we just had to stop, and of course its cool to say you sat staring at the ocean from the patio at Wendys, one of the best views I've ever had at a restaurant! LOL Somehow I managed to forget my shoes for formal night, and like a beacon in the night on the way back we found a payless!!!! I have never been so happy to see a shoe store, I was able to find shoes to fit my huge feet! That evening Tommy and I went to see a hypnotist after dinner, his name was Asad Mecci. While I am not sure I "believe" it, the people were quite amusing and it was a ton of laughs!
Thursday: St. Maarten - St. Maarten was beautiful! Tommy and I took the first water taxi over to the main shopping district and walked along the beautiful beach taking photos. We didnt do much shopping there, but we did end up with ANOTHER bottle of liquor! Mid-morning we headed back to the ship and sat by the pool until it was time to get to our snorkeling adventure, and what an adventure it was! Anyone who knows me, knows I am TERRIFIED of "fishy water" but I wanted to strech myself and make myself do things I wouldnt normally do. As we are getting ready, I start to have a panic attack and I was sure there was no way I could get into that water. Somehow, Tommy convinced me (maybe because I didnt want to look like a fool for wasting the money?!?!) to get into the water. I tried my hardest to snorkel like the rest of the group, but I just couldnt do it, as I would put my head in the water, I would see fish and other stuff and my depth perception must have been really off, because it looked like it was RIGHT THERE and I started freaking out... However, I DID stay in the water the whole time, and I DID try... so its a BIG step for me, maybe in 10 years I might actually be able to do it! Even though Tommy and I lathered ourselves with sunblock we both managed to get an ugly sun burn.
Friday: Day at Sea - Due to the prior mentioned sunburn we spent most of the day trying to heal. It was insane how quickly my sunburn progressed from painful to itchy to totally impossible to bear. After two trips to the "infermary" we found something that gave me at least a bit of relief and we got dressed for our second formal dinner on the cruise - I refused to miss it, no matter how much pain I was in! After dinner, Tommy and I went to another show on board the ship called "Far From Over" about the 80s.
Saturday and Sunday: Day at Sea/Debarkation - Another lazy day, not much to say here. I couldnt do much and spoiled all the fun, yay sunburn. Debarkation took place early Sunday morning and we spent a total of 8 hours on Sunday waiting at different airports to get home. I have never been so glad to see Flint, Michigan!

We had a great time on the cruise, of course it would have been nice to have less crowd, shorter lines, and no sunburn... but all in all, it was a great time.

THE PUPPPY:
The day after getting back from the cruise Tommy went to work and Jenn headed to Illinois to pick up their new puppy. It was an 7 hour trip each way but the puppy traveled well and has been doing well ever sense. Phoenix weighed 6.6 pounds when we brought him home and is now up to almost 9.5 pounds (hes growing like a weed)! He is already mostly potty trained (5 days accident free - woohoo!) and has slept through the night since the first night we had him! He is of course teething and has some puppy habits that we are working really hard to break, but hes a very sweet puppy and is a great addition to our family.

PICTURES:
There are links to pictures from the wedding, the cruise, our townhome, and our puppy! Feel free to browse at your leisure and let us know what you think.


LIFE AFTER THE MADNESS:
Tommy and I are just settling into life as a married couple. Tommy is loving his job and I am spending my days working on training pup so that I can find a job very shortly. We are still struggling to get everything "set up and organized" in the townhome, but its starting to feel alot like home and we can take some time to relax and enjoy our hard work! We finally got our checking account set up and spent 4 hours at the DMV to get our Indiana drivers licenses!

We hope that everyone is doing well and look forward to hearing from you in the future!