the baby's room is READY!!

This last week we finished getting the baby's room all ready. It is decorated, the clothes are washed and put away, and little, tiny diapers are in the changing table drawers. The nursery slowly developed to have a vintage theme of airplanes and teaching/learning (very appropriately reflecting both parents, I suppose). The colors are mainly blue and yellow, which now that I think of it, are also his/her parents' favorite colors. The verse written on the chalkboard by the rocking chair is Isaiah 54:12, "All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be their peace." Our car is also ready with the car seat is installed and inspected and is waiting to bring our little one home to us.

Getting ready for baby

Last Friday I officially reached full-term, that is 37 weeks. That means the baby could be born anywhere from now until week 42 (at which point I would be induced if the baby still hadn't made an appearance). I have felt a couple contractions in the last few weeks - nothing painful, just new and exciting. And I think the baby might have dropped down a bit. There are not many days left on this countdown. I have loved being pregnant and am so excited to start motherhood/parenthood with Peter. It is such a gift. There are a lot of life changes happening with us right now with Peter's training and the baby coming. And, for the most part, it's been joyful work getting ready for both and doing both. This past week Peter built a clothesline and I washed the cloth diapers and hung them out to dry. It was so much fun to see the diapers on the line and our little garden out back. I had Peter take a break from studying and come and enjoy the view with me...and take a few pictures too. :-D

New things

There are some new chapters in our lives to tell you about.

First of all, Peter started the second training school called UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training). So this is a picture of him in his Blues on Day 1 of class. No more sleeping in for us, Peter has to get up early for school and I need to get up to make his lunch and send him off. (And soon I'll be up with a baby too). UPT  is a little over a year long and is pretty intense and fast-paced from what we have heard. We know to expect him to have many 12 hour days at work and then need to come home and study the material he's learned or prepare for his next flight. Right now he's doing a lot of ground work, but in about a month he will be flying almost every day. There are 24 guys in his class: 10 Nato pilots (Germans and Italians), 8 Active Duty and the rest are Guard/Reserve. We've spent time with the guys a few times this past week and they're great guys. Definitely not the Christian crowd that I'm used to though.

And second... we bought another car! We are now the proud owners of a Mazda3, our baby car. After research and months of looking for a good car/deal we finally got one. It's used and in great condition. Peter did a great job bartering for it and I silently cheered him on. It really seems just in time now that Old Faithful, our Jeep, is getting old and not quite as reliable as it once was. But it is getting Peter to work and back every day. But if we are going anywhere together we take our sporty, new car that we like to refer to as Zipper. And it is oh so much fun to drive. (And, for those of you who are keeping track, I am 36 weeks along in this picture).

a vacation day

Today felt like Peter and I were somewhere on vacation. It all started with sleeping in....
We had a relaxing breakfast and lingered over our coffee and tea, chatting and enjoying the morning sunlight coming through the window. Today was going to be a baby shopping day, but first I had an 11am appointment for a prenatal massage that Peter had made for me at a Spa in town. (The baby is getting heavy now that I'm 35 weeks!) Peter wanted to come and see my face after I was done, so he brought a book and some study material to keep himself busy for the hour. It was a beautiful place that was decorated with stone and ferns and fountains, with candles and beautiful lamps glowing and soft music playing. I was pretty impressed. And the massage felt wonderful! I didn't want it to end. :-D I was so relaxed afterwards that neither of us wanted to go shopping anymore. So we went home. And since the day was already feeling so special we had a special lunch of toasted turkey, swiss and basil sandwiches with iced coffee. And then spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up rays by the pool. It really felt like we were on vacation... somewhere. The one thing that seemed like "normal" life was that, just like everyday, the National Anthem was broadcasted at 4:30 over the base load speakers and everyone at the pool stopped what they were doing and faced the direction of the flag until it was over. A new normal if you live on a military base.