Phew! Now into the second trimester!

If you havent heard or caught it. We will be having another kid this Spring! My due date is may 10th, but we will have a sechuled c-section by or around May 3rd at 39 weeks.

Wow this time around was much more rougher! I thought Ethans pregnancy was rough lol.

Ethans Pregnancy:

Started feeling nauseous around 6 weeks. Random things would make me vomit like: looking/touching lettuce, looking/touching dishes, food commercials, MEAT/smell/eating/looking. So basically the vomiting was preventable if I could stay away from those things lol. Also I was crazy tired while pregnant with Ethan in the first trimester. From the very beg at like 4 weeks!

This time around:

Started getting nauseous at 6 weeks (same time as Ethans). Nothing tasted right or good, but not foods made me vomit. I never did get tired (which is ammazing!)  I did however vomit 3-10 times a day. Anytime, anywhere. No cause just came lol. So I was really sick! And it was NOT fun. And no meds worked, they game me zofran which is an anti vomiting/nausea drufg for chemo patients and it just made me sicker.

I also had horrible acid, which the nurse would not help with. Finally 2mths in after seeing the doc, the doc got me meds. Apparently like I thought, I was over producing acid.

So PHEW! We are entering the 14th week tommorrow and I am SOOO glad the first trimester is OVER.


We had an ultra sound at 12 weeks. The baby was huge and looked like a baby. However the pic did not print out clearly and it looks like a blob lol. Heart beat was 165. Nect apt is at 16 weeks. And then after that we will be in AZ. So we are getting a ultra sound in Phoenix to find out the gender! Dec 18! :) I started feeling the baby at 11 weeks fluttering around.

One Year

                                           Home is where the Air Force sends us


One year ago today we landed in Italy. It funny looking back all the craziness and adjusting we have done but we are just fine. :) Hard to believe we left our South Dakota base , our only home we knew as a family and headed to a foreign country. Then minets after landing and being picked up, my husband was told he would be deploying that year. (Which he just got home not too long before we moved!) And here are some other random memories:

Then we waited to see if Josh made Staff, which he did YAY!

Lived in TLF wayyyy too long (the on base hotel)

Oh and our A/c in our room was BROKE so it was very hot!

I remember I was all anxious at the commissary because it was so much different. There is a weigher that prints out a tag/price for your produce. *Blew me away lol!

It took me awhile to figure out where everything was, we have 3 separate parts to this base (miles apart)

We finally got a house. But it was empty. lol Our stuff didnt come in until a mth later. So Ethan and I would be so bored no car no stuff. But we made it through that!

We didnt know how to work our a/c units so it was hot

I found out that there are scorpions here (no one mentioned this) when I found one on our bedroom wall

We had our first taste of Italian pizza and gelato (yumm)

Realized our American money isnt so great here- 1.33 USD = 1 euro

We went to Ikea, wow that store is amazing!

Had fun figuring out our electricity over here, you cant run two big things at once! So you cant run the washer and dryer at the same time, or bake and dry something ect  (the circut blows almost every day)

Learned some Italian

We make sure to get gas before Sunday, since the gas stations close on Sunday. But you know we always end up needing gas on Sunday lol!

I thought we had a dish washer , turns out its a mini fridge :)

They dont do refills here

No butter on your popcorn at the theater

OR ice in your drink!

The cabenieri lolly popping (google it!) still scare me...

Gotten used to the crazy Italian drivers, and you think Phoenix is bad!

Pepperoni pizza is not pepperoni its peppers LOL

The American Pizza is not pepperoni pizza its topping is French fries (guys I know this from experience)

Everything closes down for risposo from 12-3pm the Italians big break in the middle of the day. So you cant get much done/

Weve gotten to do some nice traveling and more to come since we have our passports now

The beach is nice and the lakes in the mountains

So some great recaps on living over here, im sure there are a hundred more. Just cant believe its been a year! So fast. And we have two more to go. We definatly miss friends and family and America. But we are taking Italy in and enjoying this experience. Heres to 1 year!

4th of July and peter pan

Fourth of July we headed out to a big waterpark. Its called Aqualandia. Josh went on the bigger rides with some of his friends and Ethan and I hung out in the smaller kid slide area. It was really nice. 

Minus the guys in speedos and little girls with no tops. Thats how they do it over here lol. But hey they must save a lot of money on swim suits. HEHE

Ethan was really afraid of the slides when we first got there. But then he started going down them himself. Josh went down a few with him also. And I went down the white one with Ethan in the double tube. I have to admit though, yes, I was scared. Im not a ride person guys. So even this slide that just curved didint even drop or dip I was pretty scared the first time LOL!

Then we watched the petter pan show at the park. No, we didnt know anything they were saying. But they did sing the I can fly song in Italian so that was fimiliar. 

After Capt. Hook was defeted and the story ended. They had children come from the audience. They then had them hold onto the front of them and they swirl jumped off these super insane high diving boards (like in the pic) That was nuts and I should of taken a pic. But I was just so speechless! LOL

After the waterpark we went home and rested up. Then headed that night to see fireworks on base. It was nice that they did that. Before the fireworks they had a real traeze act. LIke they drove motorcycles on the wire and everything. It was nuts. 

Then the firworks came. It was a really nice show. Makes you miss America!

But it was a great 4th of July! :)

Croatia

Fathers day weekend we went to Croatia. Our first official country usuing our new travel passports. We have been to Slovenia but they have open borders.

We had a great time exploring and checking out the town we were staying in. Josh found us a nice apartment we rented and stayed two nights.

The first day we went on a ferry in the early morning (with our car). Took about 1 hr and half then we got to this other island. It had a really nice sandy beach. Josh enjoyed swimming around with his snorkling gear and Ethan and I hung out on the beach. It was a lot of fun.

The second day we headed to this big national waterfall forest. Tons and tons of waterfalls. The pictures just dont do it justice.

Then we headed home. The drive was about 5.5hrs not too bad.

*They had an out door ocean organ built by the water and the water pushed through it making music
*We walked aroung thier huge outdoor market
* had tasty gelato
* tried learning some croation words beforehand but they speak english there
* 1 us dollor = 5.75 over there (nice)
*we got our first pass port stamps in our travel passports

Ethans new bed quilt!~

Just wanted to say I finnised Ethans bed quilt! Its the biggest quilt I have ever made. And its big! Its the size of his twin bed. 

Summertime Nears

The weather has not made up its mind here in Italy. As we have has some amazing days full of rays. Yet then when the weekend arrives we have gloomy rain! BOO.

This past weekend Josh had a three day weekend. So we tried to fit in some fun. Its been kind of busy for Josh latly and he has been working at nightime. 

But we decided to head to Jesolo. Its a beachfront town. We took Ethan to this Aquarium/Reptile/Amphibian exhibit. It was pretty neat. There was sharks, fish, lizards, snakes, penguiens ect. 

There was also this room full of butterflies. Ethan was terrified of touching them because they are bugs. But finally when we where about to leave the room he decided he wanted to hold them. So he did. :)

The we walked through this dark room with glad exhibits on both sides. And you could barely see anything but dark room lights. And I was gazing into through this one window and BAM this animal was there. Scared the pee out of me. I have no idea what that thing was called. But I rem seeing one before. 

Then we walked around the little shops. And we had lunch. Then Ethan begged and begged to go to the beach. So we took him to the beach. There was a nice playground on the beach. So he played. Then Josh bough us all fun Popsicles. 

My Sister the Graduate

I have three younger sisters. My sister Erika will be graduating in a couple days from college. She is becoming a nurse. She has a job already lined up and I am very proud of her. I wish we could be there to see her graduate.

Seems like just yesterday my sister and I were little. Playing hide and seek, chasing after the ice cream truck, my sister hoarding her barbies and keeping them in their boxes. Time goes by so fast.

I thought I would post some flash back photos. :) A walk down memory lane...

I remeber when you were born 

Your carseat looks like its real cheap but you made it! LOL

Bean bag chair pool, this was prob my idea :P

Eating veggies from the garden

Sharing Chicken pox

Seaworld

You drove with me back to South Dakota and we sang Disney

songs the whole way LOL

Your 8th grade graduation

Your high school graduation

Erika Im so proud of you! I am excited for you as you start this new chapter in your life. :)

Love you <3

Quilts

Havent made a post about my quilts. But I have been a little busy here and there this past year and recently sewing. In South Dakota a few of my friends and I would meet weekly for our sewing group. I think we got more eating and chatting done than sewing, but it was an essential time of our weeks.

Summer 2012 made for friends baby

Not the completed pic but a quilt I made for Ethans toddler bed

Spring 2012

Snowball Quilt 

Still nameless 

Did this as a quilt along with my two friends Kristen and Teresa

Spring 2012

Winter 2011
zig zag quilt for Ethan

Fall 2012

Made this for my Aunt Amy

It has breast cancer ribbion theme

Some finnished blocks for my star quilt

still working on this one

Spring 2012-recent 

Recent Quilt! Almost done. Working on it for Ethans

new twin size bed. Car themed :) 

5 years!

Josh and I just celebrated our five year anniversary  April 5th was the day. We both admitted that it has felt even longer, not because time has dragged. But because we have actually been together straight since Summer 05. So this summer will make it 8 years! :)

Seems like just yesterday we were just dating long distance. Time defiantly flies.

So 5 years ago we got married. We got married at my hometown church in AZ. Then we had a mini honeymoon. Mini as in a few days at a local nice resort. Then we packed the car and Josh headed to our new future to South Dakota our first military assignment.

I stayed behind, since I had one month left of college. Finished my last exam, got my degree. And headed out with my friend Laura to South Dakota. The start of our adventure. That has lead us through living in a new state, going through snow storms, having our son, two deployments and then our recent move to a whole new country.

I cant imagine having anyone else by my side than my best friend. Im so greatful for my husband. And also for the life he has made for us. I know he works hard for the things he provides. He makes me laugh every day and always makes me smile. He is a good dad. And Ethan loves hanging out with him. I could go on and on. But I know I am very lucky to have my husband. I am excited to see what new chapters will come our way. As time passes Im glad I will have my best friend there by my side.

Spring has come!

FINALLY we have gotten some amazing sun here in Italy. Its been so gloomy, rainy and cloudy these past weeks. Saturday we were awoken with SUN! :)

This weekend we spent a lot of time outside. Sunday we went to the Spring Festival. It was very nice. And I wish I was able to take some pics but didnt grab the camera. And Joshs phone was charging at home. But there was tons and tons of flowers, plants, veggies, fruits, fruit trees. This went on for more than a mile.

We walked around and tried to plan out our garden. We bought some red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, strawberry, and raspberry plants. All the plants were healthy and had some tiny fruits already on them.

We also got 8 cartons of strawberries for 5 euro. And they are amazing.

Then later Sunday Josh, Ethan and I got the garden ready. It had a ton of weeds and growth in it. We even found some planted plants from the last people. We got it all under control. And now they are all planted in the garden. Looks good. So wish us luck! LOL

It was a great sunny weekend. :) And its all fun and games outside, until a big nasty black wasp looking thing comes flying into your hair LOL!

Also we have been looking for a metal swing set for Ethan for our yard. We have tons of space and wanted something for him to do. So I been posting a wanted ad in our military base classifieds. And a neighbor man ended up giving us thiers for free. Josh touched it up and painted it some. And Ethan loves it. :)